Man Kills Woman, Burns House, Commits Suicide

Police say a man shot and killed a woman in a house in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday night. He then set the house on fire and shot himself.

On Friday, police said that Richard Kenneth McDonald shot and killed Gwendolyn Bass-Kemp. Police said that they were both 71.

Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue said in a statement that Bass-Kemp worked as a billing expert for the company.

“She joined the city in 2005 and was a valued member of the team for 18 years,” said the statement. “She will be missed very much. During this hard time, Gwen’s family is in our thoughts and prayers.

The tweet below confirms the news:

Detective Ali Adamson, a spokesman for the Fort Lauderdale police department, said that officers went to the house at 170 NW 27th Ter. around 8:25 p.m. after getting a call that someone there had been shot.

Adamson said that McDonald walked out of the house with a gun, then walked back in and started a fire. While the house was on fire, tactical teams and officials tried for about two hours to get him to give up.

The police didn’t say right away what kind of relationship there was between Bass-Kemp and McDonald.

Battalion Chief Garrett Pingol said that firemen had to stop putting out the fire for now.

Adamson said that McDonald finally took the gun outside and shot himself.

“An adult woman was found dead inside the house,” she said. “At this point, it looks like a murder-suicide took place.”

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Pingol said that firefighters were able to put out the fire in about 30 minutes, but the house was destroyed totally.

Pingol told the Miami Herald that every wall inside the house was broken. “The roof caved in. All that was left were the concrete walls on the outside.”

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