Mother shot, killed in front of her child in Upper East Side murder-suicide: NYPD

NEW YORK - A mother was shot and killed in front of her one-year-old child in an apparent murder-suicide stemming from a domestic dispute in Manhattan on Friday morning, police say.

Marissa Galloway, 45, was placing her one-year-old baby into her car  just before 9 a.m. on East 88th Street between York and East End Avenue when she was approached by Cathleen Lee, 65, the grandmother of Galloway's four-year-old child, who was not present at the scene. 

Police say that as Galloway was putting a stroller into her car's trunk, Lee approached her and shot her in the head, and then again in the back when Galloway was lying on the ground.

Mike Donovan, a building supervisor in the area, told FOX 5 NY that he heard shouting followed by gunfire and called 9-1-1. 

"I ducked into my doorway for cover," he recalled. 

"I saw the lady with the white hair fall onto the sidewalk," Donovan said. "Then when I went closer, I saw there was another woman lying behind the car who was also shot."

Police say that Lee used a pistol to shoot herself after she shot Galloway. 

According to authorities, Lee's adult son shared custody of the four-year-old child with Galloway. Police said an ongoing domestic dispute between the two had resulted in five domestic incident reports and two complaint reports with the NYPD, none of which had led to arrests.

News of the incident, which happened less than a block away from Gracie Mansion, left neighbors rattled. 

"Of course it's unsettling that it could happen in your neighborhood right across the street. It's upsetting," one resident said.

Lee is allegedly a former Probation officer in Cook County, Illinois. Authorities say they believe that she has been in New York for the last three years living with relatives.