The gunman in a Sunday murder-suicide that left five people dead in a Long Island, New York, home apparently feared he was going to be cut out of his family's will when he decided to kill his three siblings and niece, police said Monday.
Joseph DeLucia Jr., a 59-year-old mechanic, legally purchased a shotgun before carrying out the crime after realizing he was going to have to move out of the home he had lived in his entire life, according to Nassau County police.
"The perception of Joseph Jr. was that he was being cut out of the will and that he was going to be displaced without a place to go. He did have past…psychological issues," Det. Capt. Steve Fitzpatrick said Monday.
DeLucia's mother had died three days earlier, and her children and niece had traveled to Long Island from out of state to sort out her will.
"When this happened, they arrived to meet the realtor. … They brought Starbucks. They were all assembled in the den area. [Joseph DeLucia Jr.] had stayed behind," Fitzpatrick said of the four victims.
DeLucia was apparently scared he was going to be cut out of the will and forced to move out of his home, where he had lived his entire life, police said.
"He was panicking," Fitzpatrick said, noting that DeLucia was being taken care of but was going to have to relocate.
Nassau County police responded to reports of shots fired and a man lying on the front lawn of the home on Wyoming Court in Syosset just before noon on Sunday.
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They discovered the four deceased victims, including JoAnne Kearns of Tampa, Florida; Frank DeLucia of Durham, North Carolina; Tina Hammond and her daughter, Victoria Hammond, of East Patchogue, New York, in the back of the home in the den and DeLucia dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest in the front yard. DeLucia shot each of the four victims multiple times, according to police.
Police are encouraging residents to come forward if they notice anything suspicious about their neighbors after DeLucia's neighbors apparently reported that the gunman had previously told them, "If you hear gunshots, don't bother calling police."
"As a community, we hear things. We know things. We see things. And if we don't say something, sometimes the outcomes are like [what] we got yesterday. There was talk in that community about the distress of this shooter that had decided he did not want to leave his residence after his mom died. There was talk in the community in the past that if you hear shots fired, don't call the police. It will be too late," Ryder said.
He added that such information is "disturbing" to law enforcement officials, who may have been able to respond to the residence sooner.
Police noted that although DeLucia's shotgun had been purchased legally, it may have been illegal for him to possess it if his concerning behavior had been reported to authorities.
"We’re not saying this incident could have been averted, but maybe it could have," Fitzpatrick said.
Police said they had one prior call to DeLucia's house, in 2022, for a welfare check, but DeLucia's behavior at that time did not prompt police to take any further action then.
Mary Macaluso, a local realtor, told the local newspaper Newsday that she was supposed to meet a group of relatives at the address to discuss selling the home after the death of its owner and the family matriarch.
"The kids were all here for the funeral, and they asked me to come to look at the house," she told the paper. One of the siblings had reportedly asked for the meeting while other relatives were in town from Florida for the funeral.
Fox News' Michael Ruiz and Lorraine Taylor contributed to this report.
