If a tree falls in the forest...

You know the old adage. Does the same go for gunshots?

After a brief standoff, police yesterday afternoon arrested a 46-year-old man who cannot hear or speak in the shooting deaths of his sister and brother-in-law at the family's home in Freedom.

The parents, who were in the house at the time of the shooting and who also cannot hear or speak, fled the home after the shots were fired and were not injured.

The victims were identified as Marilyn Bergman, 43, and her husband, Steven, 46. Like Simich and his parents, they could not hear or speak.