DATE: Monday, March 31, 1997                TAG: 9703310050

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY REBECCA MYERS CUTCHINS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   46 lines

MURDER-SUICIDE LEAVES COUPLE DEAD IN NORFOLK

An ongoing domestic dispute ended violently Sunday, police said, as a woman shot her husband to death on his birthday and then - despite efforts by her family to stop her - turned the gun on herself.

Two blocks of the Ingleside neighborhood were cordoned off by police for about three hours as a SWAT team surrounded the home in the 900 block of Dogwood Terrace.

Police spokesman Larry Hill said Henry Doe apparently was shot and killed by his 45-year-old wife, Barbara ``Fuzzy'' Doe, who then killed herself.

Henry Doe turned 46 on Sunday, Hill said.

``It appears from talking to family members, there's been an ongoing domestic dispute for some time between the husband and wife,'' Hill said.

Police were first called to the house at 11:43 a.m., after family members received a phone call from Barbara Doe, who told them she had shot her husband and was going to kill herself, Hill said.

Family members went to the home, but ``they were not allowed into the home by the woman,'' Hill said. Shortly after they arrived, ``they did hear a gunshot and notified police.''

Police responded and asked neighbors to leave their homes.

``We didn't get any response when we were banging on the door, and the officers backed off and called our Emergency Response Team,'' Hill said.

About a dozen officers from the tactical unit, donning bullet-proof vests and carrying high-powered weapons, surrounded the house, a single-story home with gray vinyl siding and red shutters. Onlookers, some still dressed in their Easter clothes, looked on.

Before the bodies were found, several family members gathered at the corner of Wakefield and Seay avenues, about a block away from the home.

``We're just waiting, just trying to see what the situation is,'' said Clifton Rhines, a brother-in-law, about an hour before the victims were found.

When Barbara Doe's sister, Vernell Rhines, arrived on the scene, she asked police, ``Can I go up there and talk to them myself?''

Police would not allow any family members to enter the home. When police entered the house themselves, they found both victims dead from gunshot wounds.

In the aftermath, the reason for evacuating nearby homes became obvious.

``Part of the gunfire came through the side of the house and hit the house beside it,'' said Hill, pointing to a hole in the left side of the house, above some shrubs.

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