{"id":10396,"date":"2026-03-10T16:24:47","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T20:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/?p=10396"},"modified":"2026-03-10T17:03:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T21:03:06","slug":"four-shot-dead-as-bayville-homicide-investigation-gets-underway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/2026\/03\/four-shot-dead-as-bayville-homicide-investigation-gets-underway\/","title":{"rendered":"Man Shoots, Kills His Child’s Mother, Her Two Parents in Bayville Triple Homicide"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Fairwood<\/a>

Fairwood Drive, Bayville, N.J. (Google Earth)<\/p><\/div>\n

UPDATE: 4:45 p.m., March 10, 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Ocean County Prosecutor\u2019s Office has released new details on the triple homicide that occurred in Bayville early Tuesday morning, with the alleged gunman having turned the weapon on himself after the fact, leading to a total death toll of four people.<\/p>\n

According to a statement, Berkeley Township police were called to a home on Fairwood Drive at about 5 a.m. Tuesday morning for a report of \u201cshots fired.\u201d Responding officers observed a male entering the residence and heard additional gunfire from inside the residence, the statement said, necessitating the callout of the Ocean County Regional SWAT Team.<\/p>\n

SWAT team members made entry into the residence and immediately saw two victims deceased from apparent gunshot wounds. The victims were later identified as the homeowners, Allan Russell, 61, and Michelle Russell, 60. Also located at the residence were three unharmed minor children.<\/p>\n

As Officers continued to clear the residence, they discovered a male, later identified as Vaughn Stewart, 37, of Maplewood, with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head. Stewart was transported to Community Medical Center in Toms River where he was eventually pronounced deceased.<\/p>\n

Several officers on the scene began to broaden the perimeter of their investigation; as a result, they discovered multiple shell casings, and located a third victim, identified as Deonna Stewart, 38, of Berkeley Township, approximately 50 yards from the residence on the side of Fairwood Drive.<\/p>\n

An investigation revealed that Stewart resided at the Fairwood Drive residence with her parents, the Russells, and three children. Vaughn Stewart and Deonna Stewart were the parents of three children and had been living separately. Further investigation revealed that Vaughn Stewart entered the residence and shot the couple. Vaughn Stewart then chased Deonna Stewart down the street, fired multiple shots, and killed Deonna Stewart.<\/p>\n

\u201cVaughn Stewart subsequently re-entered the residence and turned the gun on himself,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

The minor children are currently in the care of the Department of Child Protection and Permanency.<\/p>\n

ORIGINAL STORY:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Four people were shot and killed in Bayville in the early morning hours Tuesday with sources telling Shorebeat there is a belief that a domestic incident of some type led to the carnage.<\/p>\n

According to police, three victims were shot at a home on Fairwood Drive, a residential street located a few blocks from the banks of the Toms River in the northeast portion of Berkeley Township. After the three victims were killed, the gunman is believed to have turned the weapon on himself.<\/p>\n

Police said in a statement that there was no danger to the public. The suspected shooter was pronounced deceased at Community Medical Center in Toms River after authorities responded. The identities of those killed have not yet been released.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis investigation remains active and ongoing, and additional information will be released at the appropriate time,\u201d Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer stated.<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UPDATE: 4:45 p.m., March 10, 2026 The Ocean County Prosecutor\u2019s Office has released new details on the triple homicide that occurred in Bayville early Tuesday morning, with the alleged gunman having turned the weapon on himself after the fact, leading to a total death toll of four people. According to a statement, Berkeley Township police […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10397,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1823,1080,866,536,11],"class_list":["post-10396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-police-fire-courts","tag-bayville","tag-featured","tag-homicide","tag-shooting","tag-toms-river-nj-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-10-at-4.23.39-PM.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10396"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10400,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10396\/revisions\/10400"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}