Holly Springs, NC: Former BART officer and wife from Livermore dead in North Carolina murder-suicide

A retired BART police officer and former Livermore resident shot and killed his wife and then turned the gun on himself Monday in what the North Carolina state medical examiner is ruling a murder-suicide. 

Robert Seymore and Amber Seymore, both 38, were found shot dead by Amber Seymore's mother in an upstairs room of their Holly Springs, North Carolina home, according to a report from the News & Observer. The woman reportedly discovered the grisly scene when she went upstairs to tell the couple, who have three children, that she was taking their daughter to day care.

The woman, whose name has not been released, told 911 dispatchers when she found her daughter's body that her "son-in-law killed her. He killed her, she's dead." Medical examiners' reports later confirmed the woman's suspicions.

Amber Seymore's mother reportedly grabbed the youngest child and ran to a neighbor's house to call 911, police said. The couple's older children were at elementary school at the time of the shooting.

"He's laying on the floor," she cried into the receiver. "They're not moving, neither one of them. I got the baby. I think they're both dead."

Police did not disclose a possible motive, though Amber Seymore's mother told 911 dispatchers that her son-in-law had "just been caught" having two affairs, the news report said. Amber Seymore also called 911 the day after Thanksgiving for a domestic violence incident in which she planned to confront him for his infidelities, and reported that he "had a gun on him and a really bad temper."


Robert Seymore worked for the BART police department as a canine officer from 2001 to 2011, BART Police Operations Deputy Chief Benson Fairow said. According to his LinkedIn page, the retired canine and explosive detection handler had settled into the role of stay-at-home father since moving to North Carolina.

Grief counselors have been made available to all members of the BART police department, Fairow said.

"We're dealing with the loss of one of our own," Fairow said. "Any time there's a situation like that it is a tragedy for all those involved, all left behind. Our thoughts go out to the friends and the family."
Amber Seymore, a graduate of Monte Vista High School in Danville, worked in sales at Anixter. a communications supply company with offices in Pleasanton, for 12 years before moving to North Carolina in March 2011.