W.Va. police say father killed 2 sons, himself

SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. -- A father and his two sons died yesterday in an apparent murder-suicide at a university, authorities said.

Douglas W. Pennington, 49, shot his sons -- Logan, 26, and Benjamin, 24 -- before shooting himself with a .38-caliber revolver on the Shepherd University campus, State Police said. Both sons were identified as Shepherd students.

Police said the elder Pennington traveled to the campus to visit his sons, but investigators offered no motive for the shootings.

The gunfire occurred about 2 p.m. in a parking lot, near residence halls. The Penningtons were pronounced dead at medical centers.

``We are stunned to hear about this terrible tragedy," David Dunlop, university president, said.

University spokeswoman Valerie Owens described the campus as quieter than usual this weekend because many students left for the Labor Day holiday. About one-quarter of Shepherd's 4,000 students live in campus residence halls and apartments.

University counselors met with students in the afternoon and during a formal counseling session on campus last night. Owens had no information on whether any students or faculty witnessed the shootings.

Shepherdstown is about 80 miles northwest of Washington, D.C., in the West Virginia panhandle. The 135-year-old liberal arts university, which is part of the state's higher education system, along the Potomac River.

The school has grown rapidly over the past two decades. It was called Shepherd College until 2004.