It started as an argument between an elderly father and his adult son inside their Maplewood home Monday afternoon.

Then it turned deadly.

For reasons not clear to police, Pang Vang, 84, fatally shot his 36-year-old son, Chue Vang, before stabbing himself multiple times with a knife, according to Maplewood Police Chief Paul Schnell.

Neighbors watched as the two men were rolled out of the house a few hours later on gurneys as SWAT team officers swarmed the premises.

Chue Vang was pronounced dead at the scene, Schnell said.

Pang Vang was taken to Regions Hospital with self-inflicted stab wounds to his chest and neck. He was listed in fair condition Monday evening.

“I’m in shock … I can’t believe this,” said Zang Vang, a relative of both men. “They were good people.”

Officers descended on the residence at 1863 County Road B — down the street from the Maplewood police station — just before noon after a family member reported the shooting.

The house is owned by Chue Vang, who shared it with his elderly parents, Schnell said.

All three, as well as Chue Vang’s adult brother and a child, were present when the shooting broke out, although everyone else safely left the home when officers arrived, Schnell said.

Police were quickly joined by the Ramsey County SWAT team after learning that Pang Vang had barricaded himself in a bedroom, potentially with multiple weapons, Schnell said.

Over the course of two hours, officers tried to establish contact with the father, Schnell said, first by telephone, then through a PA system. Eventually, a Hmong-speaking Maplewood officer became the main point of contact for the father.

Schnell said police believe Pang Vang already had stabbed himself by the time contact was made.

Officers entered the house and found him severely injured. Chue Vang was unresponsive.

A long gun, whose type was unspecified by police, and a knife were recovered.

“Certainly, this is a tragic set of circumstances,” Schnell said of the city’s first homicide of 2014.

Police had little information about what triggered the deadly dispute but said a conflict between the father and son had been ongoing.

Relatives told police the elder Vang, who has a military background, had a history of making violent threats against family members but nothing that had escalated to the point of requiring police intervention.

“What prompted this today … for a gun to all of a sudden get into the mix … that becomes one of the things we are trying to get a sense of,” Schnell said.

The Vang family relocated to the Twin Cities from Laos several years ago, relatives said.

Chue Vang was single.

His cousin, Zang Vang, described him as one of the “good ones.”

“He goes to school, does a lot of church service,” Zang Vang said.

He added that Pang Yang had been a “great uncle” to him.

“I cannot believe this … I don’t know what happened, Zang Vang said.

Neighbor Sandy Miller stood among a crowd of neighbors Monday afternoon and watched the scene unfolding just down the street from their homes.

Miller said she often saw the father and son working together in their garage.

“They were just quiet people,” Miller said. “I can’t believe this. … It’s devastating.”

The crime was particularly startling given its proximity to Maplewood City Hall, said Kenta Cummings, another neighbor who said he heard the gunshots.

“You wouldn’t expect something like this here … right by a bus stop for kids and the police station,” he said.

The Ramsey County medical examiner’s office planned an autopsy as the investigation continued Monday evening.