Neighbors in shock after learning beloved couple were the hostages in deadly Roseville shooting
ROSEVILLE -- The hostage who died in the Roseville shooting has been identified by police as 72-year-old James MacEgan. His wife Patricia was also taken hostage but survived.
Neighbors say the couple was known as Jim and Patty.
"They always smiled. They always waved. They would always stop and talk with you," said their neighbor Mike Baer. "You will never find a better couple than those two people. Ever."
The couple was on an afternoon walk at Mahany Park, just a few miles from their home, on Thursday when they were taken hostage by a shooter.
"They never have done anything wrong, it should not have happened to them," said Baer.
Patty survived, but her husband Jim will never be coming back -- dying in a way that neighbors say was senseless.
"It does not make sense," said Baer. "All of a sudden you wake up all the time and there is just this gun violence. It is a shame. It is beyond a shame."
Howard Nichols, who lives across the street from the couple, was in shock when he learned what happened.
"They were in love, you can tell," Nichols told CBS13.
Nichols said the couple would deliver table grapes they grew in their backyard, carting around a little red wagon, always welcoming newcomers to the block.
"They stood out because they went that extra mile," said Nichols.
Neighbors also said the couple was people of faith and active members of their church.
A neighborhood where things are usually quiet is now trying to process the loss of an innocent neighbor who was just out at the park with his wife enjoying a walk.
"You always see kids with their parents, walking, riding their bikes around the neighborhood, going to the park, playing," said neighbor Melissa Miesen.
Neighbors still have a lot of questions about how this could all happen in their community.
"We pray that everything is going to be good," said Baer. "That somehow this senseless act will have made some sense, it probably won't."
