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SYOSSET, N.Y. (TCN) — Police are investigating a suspected murder-suicide after a man allegedly fatally shot several relatives before taking his own life over a dispute regarding the family will.
Officers with the Nassau County Police Department responded to a home on Wyoming Avenue to a report of shots fired on Aug. 25 shortly before noon. Authorities found 59-year-old Joseph DeLucia deceased outside the residence with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police located four other victims deceased inside the home, including Joseph DeLucia’s siblings, 69-year-old Joanne Kearns, 64-year-old Frank DeLucia, and 64-year-old Tina Hammond, as well as his niece, 30-year-old Victoria Hammond.
According to WABC-TV, the suspect’s mother, 95-year-old Theresa DeLucia, died on Aug. 19. The family was reportedly selling the home, and Joseph DeLucia believed he was going to be left out of the will. DeLucia had allegedly lived in the house his entire life.
Nassau County Police Det. Capt. Stephen Fitzpatrick told WABC, “The perception of Joseph Jr. was he was being cut out of the will and was going to be displaced without a place to go. He had past mental issues, psych issues, that were reported to us. Because of that perception, he decided that day to get a loaded, Mossberg shotgun, 12 gauge, approached them in the rear area of the house, and from the kitchen, fired 12 shots, striking all four of them multiple times.”
Fitzpatrick said DeLucia was “shouting indiscriminately about what happened,” prompting a neighbor to call 911 before DeLucia allegedly shot himself.
Fitzpatrick described DeLucia as “kind of a hoarder” and noted that the home was “pretty much packed with tools and stuff involved in auto mechanics” because DeLucia worked in car repair.
WABC reports Fitzpatrick said it was “probably one of the most horrific scenes I have ever seen.”