Remarks as prepared for Deputy Chief Martine N. Materasso
The information I'm going to provide you is preliminary as the investigation is in its early stages and is ongoing.
As of this moment, I can tell you that there are three individuals deceased from gunshot wounds to the head stemming from an earlier dispute inside of 26 West 131 Street and there are no outstanding subjects.
This afternoon at 2:43 pm, uniformed officers from the 32nd Precinct responded to a report of shots being fired inside of 26 West 131st Street. The responding officers made entry into the location and discovered a 78-year old male lying in the 1st floor hallway with a gunshot wound to his head.
The officers then heard an unknown male yelling from inside of apartment 1A, "Come and get it," while barricading himself inside of the apartment. The officers immediately secured the location and requested the Emergency Service Unit to responded. While securing the location the officers noticed smoke coming from inside of the apartment.
Moments later, Emergency Service Unit Officers gained entry into the apartment and discovered a 59-year-old male inside of the bathroom with, what appears to be, a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
FDNY personnel also responded to the location and extinguished the fire. Upon a search of the building for additional victims, members from the FDNY discovered a 62-year old female in the second floor hallway with a gunshot wound to her head.
At this time, our preliminary investigation reveals that the 59-year old suspect was involved in a verbal dispute with the 78-year old male victim before shooting him in the head. After shooting the first victim, the suspect then went to the second floor and shot the 62-year old female, before barricading himself inside of his apartment and shooting himself.
Additionally, we have recovered two firearms from inside of the suspects apartment.
