‘Mind-blowing’: Stunned neighbors, ex-classmate react after Bedford woman accused of killing parents

BEDFORD, Mass. — A 24-year-old woman is facing charges in connection with the shooting deaths of her parents in Bedford on Thursday morning.

“It’s a really tight-knit community, very small, so it’s just mind-blowing to everybody. I’m pretty sure obviously devastating, but just really out of character very, very unexpected,” said a young woman who went to Bedford High School with Jessica Cavallaro.

She couldn’t believe Jessica was arrested Thursday for shooting and killing her parents.

“Very, very quiet, very to herself very, very sweet girl, I mean she’s the absolute last person I think anybody would ever expect to do something like this, so it’s just very devastating for everybody involved,” said the former classmate.

Police say Cavallaro was living with her boyfriend and his parents on Washington Street in Bedford.

Witnesses say she went to work like normal Thursday, but then came home and told her boyfriend’s dad she had a panic attack.

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Bedford double shooting

She then said she was going out to breakfast with her parents.

But a short time later, she came back inside and told her boyfriend’s dad, she just shot her parents.

“The timing that this happened was very scary, all of our children are out here waiting for the bus with their parents,” said one neighbor.

Police found Cavallaro’s mother and father shot in the head inside a white SUV on Washington Street.

Her mother was dead on the scene, and her father died from his injuries at the hospital.

Cavallaro pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder charges, assault and battery, and using a gun without a license.

According to a police report, her boyfriend’s family had a few guns inside a safe at the house.

“Many of the incidents we’ve had in the last few weeks, last couple months have involved firearms in the hands of people who should not have had them,” said Marian Ryan, Middlesex County District Attorney.

Woman dead, man seriously injured in Bedford double shooting, DA says

As the investigation continues, this quiet community is shaken by this double homicide.

“I think it will be difficult for children to come back and people and families to do their walks and ride their bikes walk their dogs – I think it will sting for a while,” said one neighbor.

The judge ordered Cavallaro to be held without bail as she gets a mental health evaluation.

She’s due back in court in August.

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