Following a domestic altercation, 39-year-old Robert Piccollo of Alexandria, barricaded himself in an apartment and then committed suicide.
Police were called to the 5900-block of Reading Avenue in the city’s west end at about 1:30 a.m. on Septemberr 14, to investigate a report of a man and woman arguing. The man, neighbors said, fired a shot and then ran into an apartment that police learned, belonged to his estranged wife. His wife ran to a neighbor’s home and also called police.
When officers arrived, they learned that the man was in the apartment with his two children, ages ten and five. After the man fired a shot from within the apartment, police sent mechanical robot into the residence to take video of the scene. Officers then entered the apartment where they found the man suffering from a fatal, self-inflicted gunshot wound. The children were unharmed.