On Sunday, five people were found dead in a Syosset home, four inside the Wyoming Court building and one outside. According to Nassau County police, it was an apparent murder-suicide.
Police had not yet released the identity of the victims as of Sunday evening. Police Chief Patrick Ryder said at the crime scene on Sunday afternoon that a dead man had “shot himself on the lawn in front of the house.”
Shortly after 8 p.m., people began removing stretchers with victims from the house.
Records show that 95-year-old Theresa Martha DeLucia was the last person to live there. DeLucia’s funeral was held Friday at Calverton National Cemetery in Calverton, according to the website Dignitymemorial.com.
Real estate agent Mary Macaluso of Syosset said she came to the house at 12:30 a.m. Sunday to schedule an appointment with the DeLucia family. She said when she arrived, police had already blocked off the street.
“I met them,” Macaluso said. “The mother had just died and they were in the process of selling the house.”
One of the children “asked me to come over and meet with them to give them an idea of what they should do with the house before they put it up for sale and everything else,” Macaluso said.
The meeting was scheduled for Sunday, she said, because two family members had traveled from Florida for the funeral and would soon be on their way back.
Nassau County Police vehicles parked outside the Wyoming Court House in Syosset on Sunday. Photo credit: Newsday/James Carbone
Throughout the afternoon and into Sunday evening, more than a dozen police vehicles were parked outside Wyoming Court. The dead-end street with its eight houses was cordoned off with yellow tape attached to police vehicles. Police ambulances blocked the view of the house.
Police vehicles parked nearby included Nassau Police and Homicide squad cars. Some neighbors remained outside their homes, but most avoided approaching the police tape where media members had gathered. Few were willing to speak openly about the unexpected police activity on their block.
Police did not immediately release details about the killings. In a news release late Sunday afternoon, police said officers from the second precinct responded to a call reporting gunshots just before noon.
“Upon arrival,” the press release states, “Second Precinct Police observed a man outside the home who appeared to have inflicted a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Further investigation revealed that four other victims were also found dead inside the home.”
