2 dead in murder-suicide at Penn State Beaver; no students involved

A Hopewell man lured his ex-wife out to a Penn State Beaver parking lot Wednesday by telling her he had Christmas presents for their children, then opened fire on the unsuspecting woman, killing her before taking his own life, police said.

Lesli Kelly, 49, a campus cook, and shooter William Kelly, 52, both were pronounced dead at the scene, state police Lt. Eric Hermick said.

"This murder-suicide was alarming for multiple reasons — you're on a college campus, for one," Hermick said. "But this doesn't really involve the students, which is fortunate.

"This is a domestic violence thing."

Around 3:30 p.m., Lesli Kelly was on a break during a shift at the campus cafeteria sitting in her parked but running Subaru SUV and waiting for her recently divorced husband to arrive, Hermick said.

William Kelly pulled up in a Chevrolet SUV, parked about 15 yards away and approached her carrying a box of wrapped presents, Hermick said.

They had a brief conversation, then William Kelly, standing just a few feet away from his estranged ex-wife, pulled out two semi-automatic handguns and fired multiple rounds.

Once Lesli Kelly fell to the ground, William Kelly turned one of the guns on himself, police said.

"We're getting indications that there was domestic issues, child support issues, and we're also getting information that he (William Kelly) was harassing her," Hermick said.

Lesli Kelly had not pursued a protection form abuse order against her ex-husband, but she had filed multiple harassment complaints about William Kelly with Penn State Beaver campus police, Hermick said.

Police said two students and a custodian witnessed the shooting.

"There was some screaming and yelling and obviously some chaos, but nothing that wasn't gotten under control quickly by the campus police," Hermick said.

Law enforcement scrambled to ensure there were no other victims after finding blood-stained documents in William Kelly's car, Hermick said.

Police determined the couple had one adult child and shared custody of two minor children, all of whom are unharmed. They are staying with family members.

"Other than verifying there was no active shooter, the urgency was to find out where the other family members were and the children were, because we did find evidence in the vehicle that alarmed us to indicate that maybe someone else had been harmed prior to this event," Hermick said. "But to our knowledge, all the children and the other family members are safe."

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