American Man Kills Himself and His Family for Trying to Sell His Mother’s House Shortly After Her Death | Crime in the United States

A man distraught over the recent death of his mother — as well as his family’s plans to sell the home he had spent his entire life in — fatally shot three of his older siblings and a niece before killing himself Sunday on Long Island, New York, investigators said.

The shocking violence attributed to Joseph DeLucia Jr., 59, appears to fit the definition of a type of crime known since the 1980s as family annihilation. The overwhelming majority of such cases involve a male killer armed with a gun who ultimately commits suicide after murdering several close family members.

American communities tend to view family annihilations as isolated tragedies, but a July 2023 Indianapolis Star investigation found that they occur on average once every five days in the United States.

In DeLucia Jr.’s case, the local police commissioner urged the public to come forward any time they were concerned about someone’s mental well-being, as reported by NBC New York.

Authorities said DeLucia Jr. met with his brother, two sisters and the daughter of one of the women on Sunday, three days after the siblings held a funeral for their late mother, Theresa DeLucia, 95. The victims had planned to discuss the sale of Theresa’s home in Syosset, where Joseph had lived his entire life, in Nassau County, New York.

But DeLucia Jr., who worked as an auto mechanic, didn’t let the argument continue. He grabbed a shotgun and shot his family members a dozen times, killing them all, Nassau County Police Capt. Stephen Fitzpatrick told reporters Monday.

Fitzpatrick said DeLucia then went to the front yard of the house, yelled what he had done and shot himself.

First responders called to the scene found the bodies of Joanne Kearns, 69, Frank DeLucia, 64, Tina Hammond, 64, and her daughter Victoria Hammond, 30. Kearns lived in Tampa, Florida, Frank DeLucia in Durham, North Carolina, and the Hammonds in East Patchogue, New York, also on Long Island.

Fitzpatrick said De Lucia Jr.’s family assured him they would provide for him and that he had not been cut out of his mother’s will. But the family’s plans required him to leave the home where the murders occurred.

Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said officers only became aware after Sunday’s killings of widespread concerns that DeLucia Jr. might try to hurt himself or others, given his distress over his mother’s death and the sale of his family home. Ryder said officers could have intervened and cut off DeLucia Jr.’s access to firearms if they had been made aware that he might be suffering from mental health issues.

A neighbor of DeLucia Jr., Wendy Paisner, told NBC New York that it was obvious, even from a distance, that he was “really in need of… emotional support” before Sunday’s killings.

According to Ryder, police have been called only once in recent years to check on DeLucia Jr.’s well-being. That encounter yielded no indication that DeLucia Jr. posed a danger — the only arrest on his record was for drunken driving allegations in 1983, Ryder said.

“We are asking our community not to sit idly by,” Ryder said at Monday’s news conference. “Be our eyes, our ears, and let us know what’s going on.”

“We are not saying that this incident could have been avoided, but perhaps it could have been.”

The United States does not understand family annihilation as well as it could because there is no centralized database on this type of crime to better understand its characteristics or precise prevalence.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.