Police Say Rhode Island Couple Murdered In Family Home With Their 3 Kids Inside Was 'Not A Random Act'

A husband and wife in Rhode Island were shot and killed in their home last week as their three children remained inside, unhurt, at the scene.

Now, police in the city of Cumberland are frantically searching for the assailant(s), and are cautioning the public that the incident was apparently NOT a random act of violence.

Eric Huard, 51, and his 42-year-old wife Courtney Huard were shot and killed in their home in a quiet neighborhood in the city of Cumberland early in the morning last Wednesday.

According to WJAR 10 News, police were dispatched to the home around 6:40 a.m. local time that day with reports of two people suffering from gunshot wounds. Once cops arrived, they found Eric and Courtney with severe injuries; the couple were both pronounced dead at the scene, and investigators begin looking into the case. Immediately, cops discovered that the couple’s three children — identified as Grant, Blake, and Sydney — were alive and inside the house. Thankfully, they were unharmed in the violent incident.

According to her obituary, Courtney was a dietitian who owned a nutrition business in the New England city. Eric was an electrical lineman for the national power grid in the area. One neighbor, identified by the news outlet as Robert Boynes, lamented the couple’s death. The man explained to the outlet how the neighborhood was very, very safe — until the horror that occurred last week:

“Something I wouldn’t think would happen. There’s only 12 houses on this street. It’s a quiet neighborhood. Never, never in 50 years [I lived here] an incident on this street.”

Jeez.

In a press release sent to the media days after the double-murder, the Cumberland PD explained that they believed the tragedy to be an “isolated incident.” Still, over the past week, cops have been tight-lipped on the timeline of events in the shooting.

The release only revealed:

“No additional details about the investigation are available at this time. As was announced yesterday, the preliminary investigation indicates that this is an isolated incident. … The investigation so far indicates that this was not a random act of violence.”

Cumberland PD Chief Matthew J. Benson also expressed his personal condolences to the Huard family after the violent act:

“I would like to reiterate my deepest condolences and sympathies to the Huard family, including any friends and family and especially the three children left during this most difficult time.”

Cumberland city mayor Jeff Mutter also shared his grief on social media last week, imploring city residents to “be good to each other” while re-sharing the police department’s press release:

We keep the Huard family & loved ones in our thoughts. I ask that we all respect their privacy at this time. Thank you to all of our first responders for their efforts and to CPD & RISP for their continued investigation.

Be good to each other, this is hard. pic.twitter.com/Q2GhA0k9Wi

— Mayor Jeff Mutter (@CumberlandMayor) June 23, 2022