A suspended Pennsylvania school teacher was shot dead while standing in her mother’s driveway on the evening of Mother’s Day, police said.
Rachael DelTondo, 32, came back from a trip to the ice cream shop Sunday evening on Mother’s Day when several bullets struck her outside her family’s home in Aliquippa, KDKA reported.
“I counted six shots that I heard,” neighbor Fred Poor said of the shooting. Other neighbors said they heard as many as 12 gunshots.
A medical examiner confirmed that DelTondo died from several gunshot wounds to her torso. Police are still searching for the suspect and are actively investigating the incident as a homicide, WPXI reported.
Officials have not yet released a description of the suspect as of Tuesday but are retrieving information from a cellphone containing information of interest to authorities.
DelTondo had worked as an elementary school teacher at Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School for ten years until her October 2017 suspension.
School officials suspended her after receiving an anonymous tip about a past police report involving DelTondo and an underage boy who did not attend Pennsylvania Cyber, the school’s CEO Brian Hayden told Fox News. The report stated that no charges had been filed against DelTondo in the incident.
“We were saddened to learn of the tragic death of Rachel DelTondo, apparently the result of a violent incident in the City of Aliquippa. We have no additional information beyond what is being reported by local media,” Hayden said in a statement. “We express our sympathy to her family and coworkers and will support them in any way possible in the weeks and months ahead as they mourn her passing.”