Police officer allegedly kills wife, then himself
PUNTA GORDA, Toledo District, Thurs. Nov. 22, 2018– A gruesome report of suspected murder-suicide has arisen from out of Punta Gorda as the family of Josephine Hamilton, 30, wonders what could have led Hamilton’s common-law husband, Steven Ferguson, 37, to shoot her moments before turning the gun on himself.
The bodies of the two deceased persons are currently in the Punta Gorda morgue and will soon undergo a postmortem examination. When police arrived on the scene of the shooting last night, November 21, at 10:45 p.m., they saw Hamilton in a sitting position with two gunshot wounds to the top of the head and one near the left eye.
The police also observed Police Constable #438, Steven Ferguson, who was attached to the Toledo police formation, lying on the floor not too far from Hamilton with a gunshot wound to his right temple and the bullet’s exit wound in his left temple.
A black 9mm pistol was found about a foot away from Ferguson’s head with 5 live rounds in the magazine. Four expended shells were also found on the scene.
The medical officer from the Punta Gorda Town Hospital was also at the scene and she pronounced both Hamilton and Ferguson dead at 11:20 p.m.
According to police the couple reportedly had a dispute, prior to the incident, but police do not currently know what the nature of the disagreement was, between the two.
When asked if there was any report of domestic violence, either in PG or Ladyville, where Ferguson and his wife reportedly lived previously, ACP Joseph Myvette said that there was no report in PG, but he did not indicate if there had been any such report in Ladyville or anywhere else.
Reports from neighbors of the couple, however, suggest that Ferguson was abusive towards Hamilton, going as far as, according to one allegation, stripping her naked in their yard and beating her.
The couple had four children – two infants and two teenagers, all of whom were in the house at the time of the murder-suicide. Hamilton was the biological mother of the two infants only.
The police department issued a release today, November 22, in which they expressed their condolences to the families of Ferguson and Hamilton, and said that police investigations are ongoing.