A Flat Rock woman apparently shot and killed her 9-month-old baby Thursday night, then committed suicide.

According to investigators with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department, the 29-year-old mother allegedly shot her daughter with a high-powered rifle, and then turned the gun on herself.

“It was a tragic thing,” said Chuck Phillips, chief deputy with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department.

Phillips said it’s believed there had been problems between the woman and the child’s father.

The apparent murder-suicide happened sometime before 9 p.m. Thursday in the back yard of one of the mother’s family members, at a home on Jackson County Road 705.

Jackson County Coroner John David Jordan pronounced both mother and child dead at the scene. He said the names of the mother and child are not being released until family members are notified.

Ft. Payne Times-Journal