FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Fort Lauderdale police are calling the shooting deaths of a father and son, who were found dead when a SWAT team entered their house early Monday morning, an apparent murder-suicide.

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Father, Son Dead

Police said Dennis Mackey, 41, shot his 12-year-old son and then himself, after a domestic incident.

Members of the Fort Lauderdale SWAT team who were responding to a call from a house across the street discovered the bodies. Officers responded at around 12:40 a.m. to a call from the 2700 block of Southwest 8 Street regarding a mentally ill person, according to Detective Jack DiCristofalo. The call was unrelated to the Mackey incident, but as police stood outside the home, Mackie's wife, Laura Mackey, ran out of her home and toward the officers, allegedly screaming that that her husband was trying to kill her and her son.

Laura Mackey allegedly told the officers she last saw her husband heading towards their son's room and that she heard two shots fired.

"She said she'd heard two shots fired. She said they'd been having domestic problems," DiCristofalo said.

Police negotiators made phone calls to the house and to the family's cell phones for the next few hours, DiCristofalo said, but hostage negotiators were never able to make contact, and officers heard no further shots fired.

At about 5 a.m., a SWAT team entered the house and found the bodies, as well as a small caliber semiautomatic handgun on the floor beside Mackey.

Neighbors of the couple were expressing shock at the incident on Monday, describing Dennis Mackey as a quiet, church-going man who often held Bible study classes at his home.

Mackie worked for the City of Plantation Department of Public Works for 15 years, and his supervisor at the department described him as a "terrific employee."

Neighbors said Laura Mackey had complained of domestic problems, but indicated that nothing violent had occurred. She was with family Monday, DiCristofalo said.

Police were not releasing the son's name on Monday, but he would have started seventh grade at Driftwood Middle School on Monday.