A man in New York killed four family members because he was afraid he would be homeless after his mother died. He then killed himself right before a real estate agent was going to come by to talk about the future of the house he had lived in his whole life.
“Joanne Kearns, 69, of Florida, Frank De Lucia, 64, of North Carolina, and Tina Hammond, 64, of New York” were killed by Joseph De Lucia Jr., 59, along with his 30-year-old niece Victoria Hammond, who also lived in New York.
At a press conference, Nassau County Police Capt. Stephen Fitzpatrick told reporters that the man killed four people with a shotgun, then called 911 to say that shots had been fired. He then killed himself with a shotgun.
When police arrived at the house on Wyoming Avenue in Syosset, Long Island, they found all five people dead.
Fitzpatrick said that the tragedy happened after Theresa De Lucia, 95, died of natural causes on August 19. On Friday, her family buried her. In order to decide what to do with the house where she lived with Joseph De Lucia Jr., her family was going to meet with a real estate agent on Sunday.
Fitzpatrick says that a group of family members got some Starbucks and met in the room for the meeting. Fitzpatrick said that Joseph De Lucia Jr. stayed behind, got a 12-gauge handgun, and then killed his family.
The idea that Joseph Jr. had was that he was being cut out of the will and would be left without a place to go, Fitzpatrick said.
The real estate agent who was meant to go to the house before the rampage was talked to by Newsday.
She said, “The kids asked me to come look at the house while they were all here for the funeral.”
Fitzgerald said that the fact that Joseph De Lucia Jr.’s family was named in his mother’s will made the situation even worse. He would be taken care of.
According to the police, the suspect fired 12 shots, hitting the victims more than once. After that, he yelled about what happened on the front yard, which made a neighbor call 911. Fitzpatrick says that’s when he shot himself in the chest.
Police say Joseph De Lucia Jr. had health problems in the past, and they went to his house at least once to make sure he was okay. Police say he bought the gun properly. In the days before the murders, he allegedly told neighbors not to call the police if they heard gunshots, which was a sign of trouble.
Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said it was one of the worst scenes he’s seen in more than 40 years as a police officer. He also told people to call the police if they see or hear something that seems odd.
“We hear things as a group.” We know some things. We see things. “And if we don’t say anything, things can turn out the way they did yesterday,” Ryder said.
Wendy Paisler, a neighbor, said that De Lucia Jr. was known to scream when he was having a mental health attack. She knew that the death of his mother was making him feel bad.