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SYOSSET, N.Y. (AP) — A New York man distraught that he was being pressured to maneuver from his late mom’s residence shot and killed 4 of his relations earlier than taking his personal life, police mentioned Monday.
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Joseph DeLucia, Jr. and his household had gathered shortly earlier than midday on Sunday in his mom’s residence in Syosset, about 30 miles (48 kilometres) east of Manhattan on suburban Lengthy Island, simply three days after laying the matriarch to relaxation.
However as an alternative of discussing the deliberate sale of the house, the place DeLucia Jr. additionally lived, the 59-year-old fired 12 rounds from a shotgun he’d obtained, killing his three siblings and a niece, in response to Nassau County Police Capt. Stephen Fitzpatrick.
DeLucia then walked out to the entrance garden of the cul-de-sac road, screamed about what he had simply finished and turned the gun on himself, he mentioned.
The victims had been Joanne Kearns, 69, of Tampa, Florida; Frank DeLucia, 64, of Durham, North Carolina; and Tina Hammond, 64, and her daughter Victoria Hammond, 30, each of East Patchogue, additionally on Lengthy Island.
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Utilizing so-called “pink flag” legal guidelines, native police may have probably prevented DeLucia from acquiring a firearm in the event that they had been made conscious he was coping with psychological well being points, Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder mentioned Monday.
He mentioned officers discovered solely after the taking pictures that some within the neighbourhood had been involved DeLucia would possibly hurt himself or others as he had been emotional and distraught following his mom’s dying.
Police mentioned Monday his household had assured him they would offer for him after his mom’s dying, however that he must transfer elsewhere.
“These are issues which can be disturbing to us as regulation enforcement as we open so many avenues to ask us for assist,” Ryder mentioned. “We’re asking our communities to not sit again. Be our eyes, be our ears and tell us what is going on.”
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However whereas DeLucia Jr. appeared “unhappy and confused” in latest days, there have been no apparent warning indicators he would flip violent, mentioned Randy Marquis, a neighbour who has lived throughout the road from the household’s residence for a few decade.
“We had no concept this was coming,” she mentioned, including that she wasn’t even conscious he owned a gun. “If we knew he was going to do that, we’d have mentioned one thing, in fact we’d.”
Marquis mentioned she had been planning to drop off meals for the household when the taking pictures occurred Sunday as she typically checked up on their 95-year-old mom, bringing her meals and even visiting her when she was hospitalized.
The household had gathered on the home forward of a gathering with a neighborhood actual property agent and had been additionally celebrating Tina Hammond’s birthday, she mentioned.
Fitzpatrick mentioned police had been nonetheless trying into reviews DeLucia, Jr. handled psychological well being points.
The one time police had been known as to the residence in recent times was for a wellness examine, and there had been no indicators DeLucia, Jr. was a hazard on the time. His lone arrest was for driving underneath the affect again in 1983, he mentioned.
DeLucia, Jr., who labored as a neighborhood auto mechanic, was additionally a hoarder and the home was full of instruments and different automobile restore objects, Fitzpatrick added.
“We’re not saying this incident may have been averted,” he mentioned. “However perhaps it may have.”
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