Commerce Department official killed in apparent murder-suicide: DC police

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An official for the U.S. Commerce Department died on Friday in what a preliminary investigation said was a murder-suicide involving her husband, the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department reported on Friday.

According to police, officers conducted a welfare check at the couple's home in Northwest D.C. on Friday. When they arrived they found a man, identified as 51-year-old Jason Rieff, with a handgun who appeared to fire a self-inflicted shot while they were on the scene. Authorities said they also found an unresponsive adult female identified as 45-year-old Lola Gulomova.

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In their preliminary investigation, detectives from the Homicide Branch said the incident was "domestic in nature." The couple had two children who weren't present during the shooting, BNO News reported.

Rieff was pronounced dead after he was rushed to an area hospital. Gulomova has worked in a variety of public servant positions for the U.S. government. Originally from Tajikistan, she came to the United States where she eventually worked as NASA Deputy Russia Representative at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.

While working at the Commerce Department, she took diplomatic posts in India, China, and Taiwan.

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“We lost a true friend of Uzbekistan. My deepest sympathies to her close ones,” Javlon Vakhabov, the Uzbek Ambassador to the United States, reportedly said.

“Have met her last week at the [embassy]. She was supposed to leave for Tashkent [on Saturday] to lead [the] first ever trade mission to Uzbekistan.”