Police: Man kills wife, friend, then self outside Pa. apartment complex for elderly, disabled

Police: Man kills wife, friend, self in Pa.

MONESSEN, Pa. — A man fatally shot his wife, her friend and then himself outside a high-rise complex for the elderly and disabled, police said.

Vladimir Von Fischer, 42, and his 39-year-old wife, Maedee Von Fischer, had been having marital troubles, said Monessen police Chief Mark Gibson.

Von Fischer fired several shots from a .40-caliber Beretta handgun, killing the woman, and then her friend Nicholas Mascetta, 44, in a picnic pavilion outside Westgate Manor. Von Fischer then shot himself in the head, Gibson said.

The shooting happened about 9 p.m. Sunday in Monessen, about 20 miles south of Pittsburgh.

The Von Fischers listed an address near the apartment complex, but may have recently separated, Gibson said. Mascetta, who needed a wheelchair, lived in the high-rise, the chief said.

Maedee Von Fischer and Mascetta “were just out there talking” when her husband arrived and began shooting, Gibson said. There was one other adult in the pavilion, though other people were outside nearby, Gibson said. Nobody else was hurt.

Autopsies were planned Monday, but Gibson said he expected the shootings will be ruled a double murder-suicide.

Gibson said the extent of the relationship between Maedee Von Fischer and Mascetta was unclear, but said they appeared to be friends.