A 55-year-old Palmetto man shot and killed his estranged wife, her friend and himself, St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby Guidroz said on Monday.

The shooting occurred Sunday evening on the outskirts of Palmetto, a rural village in northern St. Landry Parish.

Guidroz said deputies found the two women dead from gunshot wounds, sitting in a car, wearing their seat belts.

Guidroz told The Advocate that 43-year-old Burnella Rideau of Palmetto was in the driver's seat and the passenger is an Opelousas woman whose identity has not been released pending notification of next of kin.

Burnella Rideau's estranged husband, Ransome Rideau, was found outside of the vehicle, dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, the sheriff said.

Investigators believe Ransome Rideau shot and killed the two women in the car and left them there. He then went to the home of another man, whose name was not released, to confront the man about rumors involving Rideau's wife, Guidroz said.

The two men fought and Rideau then returned to the crime scene, where he shot himself, Guidroz said.

There were no witnesses to the shooting and no one is believed to have heard the gunshots, Guidroz said.