- Police responded to a call about shots fired just before noon
- Officers found a man suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on the lawn
- Four other victims were found dead inside a tiny blue home
Five relatives were shot dead in a tragic murder-suicide, as the family gathered at their mother’s Long Island home following her funeral.
Police say they responded to a call about shots fired in the quiet cul-de-sac on Wyoming Court in Syosset just before noon on Sunday, and found a man suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on the front lawn.
Officers then found another four victims dead inside the tiny blue home – which they were planning to sell following their mother’s death last week, Newsday reports.
The victims have not been identified as of Sunday evening, but property records show the home most recently belonged to 95-year-old Theresa Martha DeLucia, who was buried on Friday.
It is now believed that one of her sons, who lived in the house with DeLucia, killed his siblings and family members before shooting himself in the front yard over a dispute about the sale of the home, according to News 12 Long Island.
Officers found a man with a self-inflicted gunshot wound on the front lawn of this Syosset, New York home on Sunday – and four other victims inside
‘The mom just died, and they were selling the house,’ real estate agent Mary Macaluso told Newsday.
She noted she was supposed to be meeting relatives at the home at around noon – but by the time she arrived, authorities had already closed the street.
‘The kids were all here for the funeral, and they asked me to come look at the house,’ Macaluso said, explaining that one of DeLucia’s children asked her to meet with the family so they would know what to do before listing the home, which is estimated to be worth nearly $900,000 on Zillow.
The family wanted the assessment done quickly because two of the family members came up from Florida for the funeral, and were headed back soon, she noted.
Property records show the house most recently belonged to 95-year-old Theresa Martha DeLucia, who was buried on Friday
But the suspect, believed to be in his 60s, had lived in the house his entire life, and neighbors say losing the home was just too unbearable for him, according to ABC 7.
‘I didn’t think that he’d take his whole family, his siblings,’ one neighbor told Fox 5 New York.
‘I thought maybe he was distraught and he did this to himself only.’.
Other neighbors noted that they heard gunfire, as they remained shaken up by the grisly scene.
It is now believed that one of her sons, who lived in the house with DeLucia, killed his family members before taking his own life
Neighbors were left startled by the grizzly scene in the normally quiet suburban neighborhood
‘At first I heard it was a murder-suicide, and that’s pretty bad,’ Mike Steffens told ABC 7. ‘And then I heard four people murdered and then a suicide, so it was something you don’t hear very often, let alone in your own town.’
Another resident, Wendy Paisner, called the murder-suicide a ‘tragedy for the family’ in her remarks to NBC 4 New York.
Nassau County police say they are not identifying any of the victims, the shooter, a possible motive or whose gun was used in the shooting.
They will release more information about their findings on Monday.
