Two dead following N. Reading standoff

NORTH READING -- A 72-year-old man shot and killed his wife, 65, yesterday and then killed himself after rifle-toting police surrounded his house on a quiet residential road on the edge of a golf course, police said.

Police said they believe that Roaldas Baran had just killed his wife in their house on a street of one-story houses and neat lawns when police arrived about 2:30 p.m. North Reading Police Detective Thomas Romeo said he saw Baran standing in his doorway holding his dog. Romeo told the man to stop where he was.

''I truly believe that I startled him," Romeo told reporters later. ''He didn't know we were there."

Romeo said Baran spoke for about 15 seconds, telling him that he had had a ''small domestic dispute" with his wife. Then, the man went back inside his house, and Romeo said he heard a shot less than a minute later.

State Police and Reading police quickly descended on the neighborhood with rifles and riot gear. They told neighbors to stay in their homes.

Police later broke through the front door, and officers said they found Baran lying on the floor of the kitchen, with a single gunshot wound. A .25-caliber handgun was found lying nearby, officers said.

Police said they found Baran's wife, Zinaida Girdauskiene, 65, in the bedroom with multiple gunshot wounds. A .357 magnum was also recovered in the house, and authorities said they are trying to determine if the gun was used in the shootings.

Police said Girdauskiene was believed to be of Lithuanian descent and here on a visa.

Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley said police had responded to the residence on Country Club Road once before, in August 2004, on a domestic dispute, but she declined to provide details. She said no restraining order or charges were filed in that case.

The shooting and police standoff horrified neighbors yesterday, many of whom said they had heard the crack of gunfire and then watched nervously as police carrying rifles crept toward their neighbors' house.

''I heard three pops, and then I looked out the window, and I saw my neighbor with his dog, and then I saw his front window break," said Vinson Muskavich. ''It all happened kind of fast."

Muskavich said Baran was a kindly retired supermarket security guard who had married in April. He said he liked to discuss neighborhood real estate with the man and was unaware of any domestic problems.

''He's a very friendly nice guy," Muskavich said. ''He's the kind of neighbor that you can end up talking to in the yard, and before you know it's 10, 15 minutes later.

''Whatever was going on over there, I'm surprised," he said. ''He's a very friendly guy and very likable. I know when she came in and they got married, she'd be doing some cleaning with him and helping him rake leaves and do stuff like that. I have no idea about their relationship."

Neighbor Bob Russo, 60, said that he saw Baran walking his dog yesterday and that the two greeted each other with a wave. Later in the day, Russo said he had heard three gunshots and a woman screaming, followed by a fourth gunshot about 20 minutes later.

''It's kind of shocking, in a way," said neighbor Joseph Roy, 82, a retired waterline repairman who said he had heard gunfire in his neighbor's window. ''You think everything is all right and all of a sudden -- boom -- something like that comes up."

Lawrence Colford, 77, said he saw the flash of the gun and watched the standoff unfold.

''The drama is all over, but . . . this whole street was filled with cruisers, all the way down to the country club parking lot," Colford said.

Police were sifting through the house last night, collecting forensic evidence while the medical examiner van was parked out front.

''I'm just so shocked," said neighbor Dawn Gallant-George, 52. ''It makes me feel even worse that he's in his 70s -- that's about my mother's age. It's amazing what happens when tempers fly."