FIVE bodies have been found at a Long Island home just days after the family rushed to town to mourn the matriarch who lived there.
Cops have a street in Syosset blocked off after they swarmed the house and found one person dead on the front lawn.
Police are pictured outside a Long Island home where they found a man dead on the lawnCredit: NEWS12
When cops went into the home in Syosset, they found four more bodies insideCredit: Google
Devastated neighbor Wendy Paisner said a man who lived in the house was devastated by the death of his elderly mother, who died last weekCredit: NBC News
Other neighbors spoke to police and said they were shocked by the deathsCredit: NBC News
The man appeared to have shot himself, Nassau County police said.
Cops then went inside the home and found four bodies inside.
Authorities didn’t say how they died, but the police commissioner said the situation was believed to be a murder-suicide.
“We do know that the subject on the front lawn did shoot and 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 himself,” Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder told Newsday.
The home where the bodies were found belonged to Theresa DeLucia, a 95-year-old woman who died on August 19.
Her funeral was held on Friday, August 22.
Neighbors told local reporters that the family was in town to mourn the matriarch and sell her house.
Yongmei Li, 50, who lives directly behind DeLucia’s home, said she was relaxing on Sunday when she heard five or six bangs.
“I heard bang bang bang, several times,” Li said.
“I thought it was construction.”
[The family] was there to be there for the mother’s funeral, and then to pay respects and then to sell the house.”
Wendy Paisnerneighbor
When she peered out her window, she didn’t see anything.
It wasn’t until police inexplicably asked for access to her backyard that she realized something awful had happened.
“It’s a nightmare,” she said.
“Our neighborhood is very peaceful, very quiet. The neighbors are very friendly.”
CONCERNING CIRCUMSTANCES
Real estate agent Mary Macaluso told Newsday that she was meant to meet with the DeLucia family Sunday afternoon to discuss selling the property.
It’s worth an estimated $900,000, according to Zillow.
Ambulances were seen in front of the home as cops investigated the motive in the horrific 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ingsCredit: NBC News
The quiet neighborhood was blocked off by first respondersCredit: NBC News
A real estate agent said she was supposed to meet with the family to discuss selling the homeCredit: NBC News
The real estate agent said two family members had come up from Florida for Theresa’s funeral and were heading back soon so they were set to meet at 12:30 pm.
“The kids were all here for the funeral and they asked me to come to look at the house,” she said.
“One of the 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren had asked me to come and meet with them to give an idea of what they should do with the house before they list it and everything.”
DeLucia’s son lived at the home with her and was apparently not too happy with plans to sell the house, the police commissioner told News 12.
The Nassau County Police Department declined to release further information about the victims when reached for comment by The U.S. Sun.
NEIGHBORHOOD SHOCKED
Neighbors in the area were shocked by the murders, especially the sight of the body in the front yard of the home.
“I live around the corner, and it’s crazy. Nothing like this happened before,” a neighbor told News 12.
Wendy Paisner, a longtime neighbor of DeLucia, said the event was a “real tragedy.”
“A tragedy, really, really a tragedy for the family,” Paisner told local NBC affiliate WNBC.
“I just saw that they pulled in, and they were there to be there for the mother’s funeral, and then to pay respects and then to sell the house.”
She added, “I didn’t think that it was he’d take his whole family, his siblings.
“I thought maybe he was distraught, and he did this to himself only. I really didn’t think that.”