Father kills himself, young son found dead

Monday, Oct. 9, 2006

Police have not yet determined what killed Jacob Matthew Dunn, a 23-month-old who was found dead last night along with his father in a Gaithersburg apartment.

The father, Gerald Robert Wells, 39, of the 18300 block of Streamside Drive, apparently committed suicide. He was found dead about 8 p.m. last night in his bathroom with a gunshot wound, police report.

The boy, who lived with his mother in Olney, had no apparent physical trauma, said Lt. Eric Burnett, a police spokesman.

The toddler was visiting his father, and Burnett said the mother went to Wells’ apartment after he failed to return the child to her house as scheduled.

When no one answered the phone or door, the mother called police. Officers kicked down the apartment door to find the boy unresponsive, police report.

Jacob was pronounced dead at an area hospital just after 8:30 p.m. Autopsy results have not yet been released.

The Gaithersburg apartment complex, called Streamside Apartments, is also the site of what police have called another recent ‘‘suspicious” death.

Michael Anthony McQueen, 22, a former Army Ranger, was found dead in his apartment on Sept. 26 with a gunshot wound.

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