NC SBI investigating after Fayetteville officer, wife found dead from gunshot wounds inside house

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) -- A Fayetteville police officer who failed to report for duty Friday was found shot dead along with his wife at their home, Police Chief Kem Braden said.

Braden said supervisors went to the officer's residence in the 1300 block of Vandenberg Drive to check on him about 6 p.m. They entered the home and found the pair dead inside.

FPD identified the victims as Domingo Tavarez-Rodriguez and his wife, Yenitza Arroyo Torres. They both had sustained gunshot wounds.

Police described the case as a homicide investigation.

Because the incident involved a current and active Fayetteville police officer, FPD requested that the State Bureau of Investigation step in and assume the criminal investigation.

Chief Braden said the NC SBI is conducting the investigation.

WATCH: Braden's full news briefing

ABC11 spoke with Rodriguez's friend and next door neighbor Dennis Corbin after the incident, he said they live in a relatively quiet neighborhood.

"I've been here for about six years and this is the first time something like this even happened," he said.

Corbin said he and Rodriguez were like family, and his son would visit Rodriguez's house often to swim in his pool.

"He loved my son, he watched my son growing up, and he would call him his nephew," Corbin said.

Corbin said Rodriguez and his wife had been married for less than a year. He retired from the military before joining the Fayetteville Police Department.

"On my way back, I'm like, wow I'm going to go home and Mingo's not going to be there," Corbin said. "I would always look over and I know that he was there, and now that I look over there, I know he's not there. I'm not going to see him come out so it's hard it is really hard."