Theresa Martha DeLucia son, Joe DeLucia Jr shoots four siblings dead and self who had come to discuss the sale of their mother’s Syosset, Long Island home following her death and funeral. The son had been disturbed about no longer being able to live at the house leading up to the murder-suicide.
Five relatives were shot dead in a murder-suicide as the family gathered at their mother’s Long Island home over the weekend following her funeral and her death just a week earlier.
Police say they responded to a call about shots fired in the quiet cul-de-sac on Wyoming Court in Syosset where they found a man suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on the front lawn just before noon on Sunday. That man and shooter suspect, was on Monday identified as 59 year old man, Joe DeLucia Jr.
Officers then found another four victims dead inside the home – which they were planning to sell following their mother’s death last week, Newsday reported.
Syosset Long Island murder suicide victims identified
Property records showed the home most recently belonged to 95-year-old Theresa Martha DeLucia, who was buried on Friday. An obituary for DeLucia said she died on August 19.
It is now believed that one of her sons, Joe DeLucia Jr, 59, who lived in the house with Theresa 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.
Addressing reporters on Monday, Nassau County Police Capt. Stephen Fitzpatrick said Joe was upset he would have to leave the house he had lived all his life, after the family sold it.
The four slain family victims were DeLucia’s brother, Frank DeLucia, 64,, who flew in from North Carolina, a sister from Tampa, Joanne Kearns, 69, and another sister, Tina Hammond, 64, from Long Island, along with her 30-year-old daughter, Victoria Hammond.
Youngest sibling couldn’t fathom no longer living at the Syosset home
‘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.
But for Joe, who had lived in the house his entire life, the prospect of losing the home was just too unbearable for him, neighbors told ABC 7.
‘I didn’t think that he’d take his whole family, his siblings,’ one neighbor told Fox 5 New York.
Mental illness and support
‘I thought maybe he was distraught and he did this to himself only.’
‘At first I heard it was a murder-suicide, and that’s pretty bad,’ neighbor, 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, speaking to NBC 4 New York said the son had concerning episodes in the past and struggled with his mental health.
‘I think the mother looked after him,’ she told the outlet. ‘He really needed support, emotional support.’
In a bid to console Joe of his fears, one of the sisters had offered to let Joe DeLucia stay at her house and take care of him. It remained unclear why the sibling turned her down.
Another neighbor, Randi Marquis said DeLucia was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck and was deprived of oxygen during delivery.
She said Joe was a retired paramedic who worked as a mechanic in Hicksville and would drive to work and then immediately return home to care for his mother.
‘He loved his mom. He was always there. He was there every day at the hospital,’ the neighbor told the dailymail.
Marquis said DeLucia’s sister, with whom she was close friends, told her she was worried about her brother in the days after their mother’s death.
The neighbor spoke to DeLucia, who was talking about ending his life.
‘I told him that in the Catholic religion you don’t do that… now is not your time. All your brothers and sisters are here,’ he said.
The Nassau County Homicide Squad continue to investigate.
