SCOTCH PLAINS (WABC) -- A homicide investigation is underway after police found a father and son dead inside their home in what authorities are calling a murder-suicide.
They were found Saturday morning inside a home in Scotch Plains.
Police and firefighters who responded to a phone call had to force their way inside of the small house, discovering the bodies.
The 11-year-old boy who lived in the house on Jerusalem Avenue had only recently moved into the neighborhood with his 48-year-old father, Jens Elberling, renting the house down the street from neighbor John Crissom about a month ago. Police now believe Elberling shot his son and then himself sometimes late last week.
Crissom said all the commotion started around 9 a.m., beginning with police from Scotch Plains and the Union County Sheriff's Office, three fire engines and eventually a homicide investigation team.
The Scotch Plains police chief would only say they came to check on the welfare of the residents, then found both victims lifeless amid circumstances he deemed suspicious.
"It's so sad - you don't want to see anyone lose their life, but an 11-year-old just starting his life, you know?" Crissom said.
Crissom thought that the boy was either in the 5th or 6th grade.
No one in the area heard any gunshots or screaming, and the houses in the neighborhood are close together.
The investigation is ongoing.