AMHERST – Elizabeth Trombly, 69, and her son John D. Trombly, 35, both died as a result of gunshot wounds fired from an AK-47 assault rifle in a murder-suicide at their Amherst home, according to the state attorney general’s office.

The bodies of Elizabeth Trombly and her son were found inside a home at 1 Meadow Lane on Tuesday afternoon by police, who had been dispatched to the address to check the well-being of the occupants. See related story.

Officials said an autopsy on the Tromblys conducted Wednesday by chief medical examiner Dr. Thomas A. Andrew determined that John Trombly died of a single gunshot wound and that his death was a suicide.

Elizabeth Trombly was the victim of a homicide and died of multiple gunshot wounds, Andrew ruled.

Assistant Attorney General Stacey Pawlik said Wednesday that an AK-47 assault rifle was found lying beside John Trombly’s body and that it was the weapon used.

Beyond her family and friends, members of the Brookline school community were also shocked and saddened by Elizabeth Trombly’s tragic death.

Known by most of her fellow instructors as Betsy, Trombly had been a reading specialist with SAU 41, the district that covers Hollis and Brookline schools, for about 14 years, according to district Superintendent Andrew Corey.

“Our thoughts with the family and friends,” Corey said Wednesday afternoon. “Our staff is deeply impacted.”

Trombly most recently had been working at the Captain Douglass Academy in Brookline, a so-called “upper elementary” school that includes grades 4-6.

Corey said a state trauma team had traveled to Brookline on Wednesday to meet with faculty and staff to help them cope with the sudden loss. There are no plans yet to call a school assembly or similar program, he said, adding that messages were relayed on Wednesday to the families of children in the district to keep them up to date.

“We want to keep things as normal as possible for the kids, to be age-appropriate,” Corey said. “We’re still learning information. We will continue to move forward.”

Neighbors of the small, roughly 50-year-old home at 1 Meadow Lane watched the scene unfold around mid-afternoon Tuesday.

Evelio Vinasco, who lives on Boston Post Road at the corner of Meadow Lane about 50 yards from the scene, said he returned home from work around 3 p.m. Tuesday and noticed police activity.

“I saw all kinds of police cars over there,” Vinasco said. “I didn’t know what was going on,” he added, saying he learned later of the deaths.

State and Amherst police and the attorney general’s office continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding the deaths, Pawlik said in a statement released Wednesday.

State and local investigators worked inside the home and inside the State Police Major Crime Unit van, which was parked in the driveway, well into the evening collecting evidence and information.

Several other police vehicles were parked along Meadow Lane, which was cordoned off with yellow tape between the northern intersection of Boston Post Road and the first bend in the road.

Meadow Lane is a short, residential loop that runs off, and back to, Boston Post Road in the extreme southern part of town, roughly a quarter mile from the South Merrimack town line.

Property records show that before living at 1 Meadow Lane, Elizabeth Trombly resided at 5 Old Coach Lane, also in Amherst, in the late 1980s through 2000-01.

A man named David who answered a phone call Wednesday afternoon to the number listed to the Trombly residence declined to talk about the incident. According to public records, Elizabeth Trombly has a son named David Trombly, who is in his late 20s.

A Facebook page attributed to John Trombly says he attended Souhegan Cooperative High School and Franklin Pierce University.

Dean Shalhoup can be reached at 594-6443 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com. Also, follow Shalhoup on Twitter (@Telegraph_DeanS).