New Jersey mother dies days after shooting her children, police say

[November 24, 2014]  (Reuters) - A New Jersey mother who shot and killed two of her children and critically wounded a third before turning the gun on herself died on Sunday, three days after the shootings, state police said.

Jeaninne LePage, 44, had been hospitalized in critical condition at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, New Jersey since the Thursday morning shootings at a home in Tabernacle, New Jersey.

State police said Sunday she had died, but gave no further details.

Her 11-year-old son, Alexander Harriman, remains in treatment at the same hospital, officials said.

LePage used a pillow to conceal the sounds of gunshots when she killed 8-year-old Nadia Harriman and 14-year-old Nicholas Harriman, police said.

The shootings took place in an upstairs bedroom, where all four victims were found in the same bed, police said. A revolver that was kept in the house and may have belonged to a long-dead relative was found near LePage's body.

Nine people including other school-aged children lived at the home, and use of the pillow may explain how the shooting could have occurred without being heard by members of LePage's extended family.

The home is a large single-family residence in a wooded area of the quiet neighborhood nestled in New Jersey's rural Pine Barrens, about 25 miles (40 km) east of Philadelphia.

(Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere in Seattle; Editing by Peter Graff)

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