AIKEN, S.C. - A South Carolina man angry over his pending divorce shot his two adult daughters to death Tuesday, chasing one into a nearby yard before then committing suicide, authorities said.

“It appears to be a horrible tragedy,” said Lt. David Turno, spokesman for the Aiken Department of Public Safety.

A third woman who was a friend of one of the victims was also shot, but was treated and released from an Augusta, Ga., hospital, Aiken County Coroner Tim Carlton said.

Alton McCoy Beasley, 61, confronted his daughters and his wife around 1 p.m. at a family home about an hour after meeting with lawyers about the couple’s impending divorce Tuesday morning, Carlton said.

Beasley shot 36-year-old daughter Anna Loebsack twice, then wounded the friend, Carlton said.

The second daughter, 47-year-old Elizabeth Beasley, tried to run away but was shot twice, before Alton Beasley shot himself, authorities said.

Alton Beasley’s wife, Willa, and the victims’ grandparents were also in the home, but were not harmed, the coroner said.

Investigators think alcohol was a contributing factor, said Carlton, who ordered toxicology tests on Alton Beasley.

Loebsack lived in Gastonia, N.C., and was the mother of two. Elizabeth Beasley lived in Townville, the coroner said.

Pam Thompson, who lives near Alton and Willa Beasley’s farm several miles outside of Aiken, said Willa Beasley never told her about any problems in her marriage. She and Loebsack shared their love of horses.

“Willa is a lovely, lovely woman and Anna was a beautiful girl. She was so close to her mother,” Thompson said by phone Tuesday night.

Thompson said she knew little about Alton Beasley except he traveled a lot and used to work for the Savannah River Site, the sprawling former nuclear weapons complex near Aiken.

“Everything seemed fine the last time I saw them,” Thompson said.

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