(06/22/07) MONTCLAIR ? Police are investigating an apparent murder-suicide after officers found a father and his two young daughters dead in a Montclair home.

According to police, the father may have drowned his two daughters, ages 5 and 6, in the bathtub before hanging himself. The girls? mother dropped them off with their father at the Claremont Avenue home earlier in the day. However, police said she became alarmed when no one answered the phone or the door later in the day.

Montclair Deputy Police Chief Roger Terry said when officers arrived at the scene, they discovered the two girls fully clothed and submerged in the bathtub. According to Terry, officers later found the father hanged in a room on the third floor. Terry termed the incident a double-murder and suicide.

Assemblyman Thomas Giblin identified the man as Thomas Reilly, a former bar owner whom he had known for at least 10 years.

Giblin described Reilly as a hard worker who had emigrated from Ireland about 15 years ago. During the last year, Giblin said Reilly worked as a building engineer at sites in Hudson County. He said Reilly had been experiencing marital difficulties recently and had moved to the house in Montclair about two or three months ago. "This was so out of character," Giblin said. "He was a jovial type guy. All he ever did was work hard. Something happened here - I don't know."

An autopsy is scheduled for Saturday. Police said one incident of domestic violence between the mother and Reilly, 46, is on file.

Associated Press wire reports contributed to this story.