MATOACA, Va. — A Virginia man shot his wife and their two young children to death on Father’s Day and then killed himself, police said.
Barry C. Jernigan, 35, killed his 30-year-old wife, Renotta; his 9-year-old stepdaughter, Alexis F. Kellas; and 2-year-old son, Seth, Chesterfield County police said.
Officers went to check on the family at their home just after 10 p.m. Sunday when they heard gunshots and saw bystanders trying to help the mother and the boy outside, police said.
Renotta Jernigan stumbled out of the front door Sunday before collapsing on the lawn. A nurse who lives down the street helped perform CPR on the baby, whose crib, neighbors said, was covered in blood.
Jernigan’s 67-year-old father, Barry, said he last spoke with his son — who went by Chris — on the phone shortly after 1 p.m. Sunday.
He said his son wished him a happy Father’s Day and told him he planned to hang around the house until he left for work that evening.
Jernigan said his son didn’t talk to him much about family business, adding that he had been in and out of jobs since graduating from Dinwiddie High School in 1997.
‘‘He was the type of person that he figured he could do everything . . . he could deal with it. Over the years, that was his attitude,’’ Jernigan said. ‘‘I just wish he would have called me.’’