Husband-Wife Dead in Apparent Murder-Suicide Sunday

A husband and wife — both law enforcement officers — were found dead in their Southwest Side home Easter Sunday morning, slain in an apparent murder-suicide, according to authorities.

Javier Acevedo, a Cook County Sheriff's Department correctional officer, shot Veronica Rizzo-Acevedo, a Chicago Police officer, before turning the gun on himself. They were found dead at about 5 a.m. in their Garfield Ridge home, according to the sheriff's department.

The husband worked at the jail and had served with the sheriff's department for 25 years. The wife served in the CPD for 18 years and worked on the North Side.

The Chicago Tribune reports that Rizzo-Acevedo's adult daughter heard gunfire and called 911.

"Officer Veronica Rizzo-Acevedo's death earlier today in a domestic murder-suicide is an awful tragedy for her family, her friends, her colleagues in the Chicago Police Department, and the people of this city," Superintendent Garry McCarthy said in a statement Sunday.

The couple attended St. Jane de Chantal Roman Catholic Church. Their parish priest, Father Ed Cronin, told the Tribune they were "very committed, dedicated people ... struggling to understand the mission of their work and trying to cope with the violence.

“They were both good people and both trying hard to be good Christian, Catholic people.”

Cronin told the Sun-Times a teenage daughter is "terribly distraught."