2 Women Shot Dead On UES In Apparent Murder-Suicide, Police Say

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Two women were fatally shot in what police are describing as a murder-suicide near an Upper East Side park on Friday morning, officials said.

Around 9 a.m., three gunshots were heard near Carl Schurz Park on East 88th Street between York and East End Avenue, just a half-block away from Gracie Mansion, officials said.

Police reported that at the scene, a white Honda Civic was parked with one woman lying behind the car and the other on the sidewalk next to it. Both women were struck by gunfire.

Police have since identified the victim as a 45-year-old mother and the shooter as a 65-year-old retired Cook County, Illinois, probation officer who had been living with family members in New York City.

A one-year-old child was also found in a car seat inside the parked Honda but was unharmed. Police did not confirm the relationship between the child and the two women.

The retired probation officer was pronounced dead at the scene after being struck in the head, while the victim, who had been shot twice, was taken to New York-Presbyterian Hospital but later died there due to her injuries.

Two guns were found at the scene: one on the sidewalk near the shooter's body and another inside the tote bag she was carrying, police said.

NYPD Chief Joseph Kenny said that the shooter was the grandmother of the victim's four-year-old child but did not confirm if she was also related to the one-year-old found at the scene.

As of now, police believe that a custody dispute was the motive behind the shooting, but the investigation remains ongoing.

This article has been updated with new information from the police regarding the shooting.