E-mail|LinkFebruary 2, 2010 12:59 PM
By Milton J. Valencia and John R. Ellement, Globe Staff
WESTFORD -- Olivia Marchand told a police dispatcher she was safe just seconds before her father shot and killed her. After killing his daughter, Brian Marchand then shot and wounded his wife, Jody, before committing suicide with the same gun, authorities said today.
"This is another extremely disturbing case of domestic violence where Brian Marchand shot both his wife and his teenage daughter,'' Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr. said at a news conference.
Jody Marchand, 50, was rushed to UMass Medical Center in Worcester, where she was listed in critical condition today.
Olivia Marchand was 17 years old, a popular senior at Westford Academy who planned to attend the University of Vermont next fall.
"She was a very special child, very bright,'' James Antonelli, principal of the 1,600-student public high school, said at the same press conference. She had a "very bright future that's been taken away.''
According to Leone and Westford Police Chief Thomas McEnaney, someone at the Marchand home made two 911 calls to police from the family's home on Makepeace Road Monday night.
Both calls were abruptly terminated, leading police to call back, a standard procedure for 911 hang-up calls. Olivia Marchand answered the phone, telling the male dispatcher that police were not needed, officials said.
She told police "she was all set and there wasn't a problem,'' Leone told reporters.
With the dispatcher still on the phone, Brian Marchand opened fire, Leone said. Police, who kept coming despite Olivia Marchand's assurances, found all three family members in the master bedroom.
Leone said Brian Marchand had been under financial strain recently Leone also said there had been some "marital discord'' between the couple. He would not be more specific on either point.
Brian Marchand is a cousin to the Marchands who run the Chelmsford-based Marchand Oil Co., but Brian Marchand never worked for that firm. "We are just shocked and saddened,'' said Marie Marchand, a cousin, who answered the phone at the Chelmsford firm."We have no other comment.''
According to a relative, Brian Marchand instead worked at the Lowell-based oil company named after his father, Ray Marchand Oil. A woman who answered the telephone today said "nobody in the family here wants to speak about it. You will have to get your information elsewhere,'' she said, before hanging up.
At Raymond Marchand's home in Westford today, relatives declined to talk with a Globe reporter. In a brief telephone conversation "I am sorry, sir, I don't want to speak to anybody. Thank you for calling.'' and then she hung up.
According to secretary of state records, Brian J. Marchand incorporated his own oil service company in 2000, but voluntarily dissolved the corporation last year, for reasons that were not immediately clear.
Olivia Marchand played volleyball and was a cheerleader at the high school. She was well-known in town among her peers, which included the police chief's own teenage daughter.
Jody Marchand works in the financial industry.
Police said the Marchand shooting was eerily similar to the Jan. 9 attempted domestic murder and suicide here, in which Frederick Leduc allegedly shot his wife, Karen, 43, before turning the gun on himself. Karen Leduc died the next day. Frederick Leduc survived and is facing murder charges.
It has been a deadly start to the year for cases involving domestic disputes.
On Jan. 23, Fitchburg State College freshman Allison Myrick, 19, of Groton, was stabbed to death, allegedly by her boyfriend, Robert Gulla, 19, of Shirley. Gulla stabbed and shot himself, but survived, police said.
On Jan. 17, a 23-year-old Seekonk man and a 20-year-old woman died in an apparent murder-suicide at a motel in North Attleborough after police tried to arrest the man on an outstanding warrant, authorities said.
On Jan. 14, police said, a Spencer man facing a foreclosure auction took his own life after shooting and killing his wife, shooting their horse, setting fire to their home, and torching his pickup.
Two dead, one injured in Westford shooting Police term attack a family dispute
By John M. Guilfoil, Globe Staff | February 2, 2010
In what police called a family dispute, two people were killed and a third person was critically injured in a shooting last night inside a home in Westford, police said.
“It appears to be a family member scenario,’’ Captain Joseph Roy of the Westford police said in a phone interview.
The third victim, a woman, was flown by medical helicopter to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester with injuries believed to be life-threatening, Roy said.
Police were still notifying family members last night and would not release additional details.
It was the second fatal shooting incident in a month in this suburb northwest of Boston.
Police said the 8:30 p.m. shooting was eerily similar to the Jan. 9 attempted domestic murder and suicide here, in which Frederick Leduc allegedly shot his wife, Karen, 43, before turning the gun on himself. Karen Leduc died the next day. Frederick Leduc survived and is facing murder charges.
A spokeswoman for the Middlesex district attorney’s office said that state troopers from that office were in Westford last night investigating the shooting on Makepeace Road, but that no additional information was available.
It has been a deadly start to the year for cases involving domestic disputes.
On Jan. 23, Fitchburg State College freshman Allison Myrick, 19, of Groton, was stabbed to death, allegedly by her boyfriend, Robert Gulla, 19, of Shirley.
Gulla stabbed and shot himself, but survived, police said.
On Jan. 17, a 23-year-old Seekonk man and a 20-year-old woman died in an apparent murder-suicide at a motel in North Attleborough after police tried to arrest the man on an outstanding warrant, authorities said.
On Jan. 14, police said, a Spencer man facing a foreclosure auction took his own life after shooting and killing his sick wife and their horse, setting fire to their home, and torching his pickup.
John M. Guilfoil can be reached at jguilfoil@globe.com.
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