Two more cases for city Homicide

Homicide detectives had two new cases added to their load yesterday while they tried to piece together two unrelated murder-suicides that occurred Thursday night.

The murder-suicides occurred during a violent two-hour stretch in the city, and left even a veteran investigator surprised.

"In my eight years in the Homicide Unit, that's the first time I've seen two murder-suicides in the same night," said Lt. Philip Riehl.

Motria Kushnir, 60, shot her mother, Irene, 89, before turning the gun on herself shortly after 7 p.m. in the elder woman's home on Gowen Avenue near Stenton in East Mount Airy, police said.

Riehl said Motria called 9-1-1 before killing herself. "She spelled out the address and said they would find a murder-suicide inside," he said.

Investigators found a notepad in the house that listed relatives' contact information, but there was no written explanation of the tragedy, Riehl said. Irene Kushnir's husband died this month and was buried Tuesday, he added.

At Edward and Angela Atkinson's three-story home in Somerton yesterday, paramedics' gloves in a nearby garbage can offered the only evidence of the previous night's carnage.

Police said that Edward Atkinson, 43, shot his estranged wife, Angela, 35, to death and then killed himself in their home on Maple Avenue near Prospect Street.

Riehl said the couple had a history of domestic violence. Angela Atkinson had a protection-from-abuse order against her husband, he noted.

The couple's 9-year-old son discovered his father's body Thursday night, then notified a neighbor, Riehl said.

An 18-year-old man who was shot in the head in East Germantown Thursday died about 1 p.m. yesterday. Lonnie Anderson was gunned down on Duval Street near Germantown Avenue, where he lived, Riehl said.

Contrary to an earlier report by police, no arrests have been made in that case, Riehl said.

Detectives were also investigating the slaying of a 43-year-old man who was shot dead in his home on Ellsworth Street near 21st in South Philadelphia shortly after midnight yesterday.