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Deputies: Grandfather kills granddaughter, 9, wife, 71, in Rock Hill Friday

YORK COUNTY, S.C. — The York County Sheriff's Office released more details after a 9-year-old girl and 71-year-old woman were found dead Friday.

Deputies said they went to the home on Idlewild Road after receiving a 911 call.

When the deputy arrived on the scene he was unable to get anybody to come to the door and after talking to neighbors learned that Barbara Gregory was bedridden.

The deputy entered the residence where he located Barbara Gregory, who had a gunshot wound to the chest in the family room.

The deputy said she was dead when he arrived.

He then located Ron Gregory, 67, in his granddaughter Mia's bedroom. He said Ron Gregory told him he had shot himself two times.

The deputy found a pistol lying on the bed. In the process of giving first aid to Ron Gregory, the deputy located Mia under the covers where she was also dead.

The deputy administered first aid to Ron Gregory until emergency officials arrived. 

Neighbors said the suspect was a doting grandfather, shepherding his grandchildren around in a golf cart.
 
They said after his wife broke her legs in an accident, he bought an RV with a handicap ramp and they traveled together for weeks at a time.
 
"There was no hint there was any problem. It's just a terrible, terrible situation," said neighbor Deborah Hovis.

The Herald of Rock Hill reported two sets of grandparents were fighting over custody of Mia.

Mia Rodgers lived with her maternal grandparents at their Rock Hill home until October, when a court granted temporary custody to Gregory and his parents. 

A court guardian noted in her report, "Mia does not ask to go see her mother's parents. She will beg not to go."
 
A month later, Mia Rodgers' mother Angie Benoit died of leukemia in Texas.

In January, Benoit's brother, who lives in Alabama, filed papers asking for custody of Mia.

He said his sister's will specified she wanted him to care for her children if she died.
There was no decision yet in that case
 
Ronald Gregory, charged with two counts of murder, remains in the hospital Friday and there is no word on his condition.
 
A funeral for Mia and her grandmother will be held 2 p.m. Thursday at the Bass Cauthen Funeral Home.
 
A visitation will be from 6-8 p.m. Wednesday.