PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY, Va. – “She was just a beautiful person, a beautiful soul.”
A family member of the woman state police say was killed in her own home on Mt. Cross Rd. in Pittsylvania County Thursday afternoon could not hold back tears Friday as she stood outside the home talking to reporters about her sister’s care and compassion for others.
“She worked seven days a week to provide for her family,” the woman’s sister said.
According to the woman’s sister, the man Pittsylvania County sheriff’s deputies shot when they were called to the home Thursday was her sister’s husband.
The marriage was rough, the sister said, and her sister had tried to have a restraining order taken out.
According to state police, sheriff’s deputies responded to the home Thursday afternoon when someone called 911 and said someone had been killed there.
When deputies arrived, the husband had a gun and refused to put it down so he was shot.
As of Friday, he remained hospitalized.
10 News reached out to state police multiple times Friday for an update in the case but did not get a response.
The identities of the husband and wife and what led to the homicide had not been released Friday.
State police are investigating both the homicide and the officer involved shooting.
Neighbor Kelly Bray said she had just begun to take a nap Thursday afternoon when her daughter woke her up, saying something was going on outside their home.
“We came outside and there were deputies flying up and down the road,” Bray said. “One stopped here at the end of the driveway. The next thing we knew, we saw them getting guns out and standing over in the neighbor’s yard pointing guns at the house saying, ‘Put the gun down. Put your gun down,'" Bray recalled.
Bray and her daughter, Makenzie, said what happened was shocking.
“The next thing we know, six or seven shots went off,” Bray said. “It scared me that he may get loose from the policemen and get down here in our driveway. It was just so shocking. Nothing like that happens around here.”
“It felt like a dream. My mother was standing in the yard," said Makenzie. “I thought she was going to get hit by gunshots.”
According to state police, three other people were in the home Thursday along with the husband and wife and were able to get out of the home safely before sheriff’s deputies opened fire.
The sister of the woman killed said they were three of the couples’ children and are now staying with her.