Former Fordham track star dies in apparent murder suicide Friday morning near Gracie Mansion, officials say

Two women, including a former track star at Fordham University, were killed by gunfire just yards from New York City Mayor Eric Adams' residence at Gracie Mansion early Friday in what police said was an apparent murder-suicide sparked by a child custody dispute.

The shooting, which took place at shortly after 8:45 a.m. on East 88th Street, was overheard by members of Adams' security detail who responded to the scene and found the two dead women, a police official said. Officers also found an uninjured one year-old child in a car seat in a white Honda Civic at the crime scene. A police source said the dispute was over a 4-year-old child who was not at the scene of the shooting.

According to NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny, surveillance video showed that Marisa Galloway, 45, of nearby 86th Street, was shot twice, once in the back and once in the head. Gallaway was taken to a hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival.

A Fordham University spokesman confirmed Galloway had been a former track star at the school.

Also dead at the scene was Kathleen Leigh, 65, who police said shot Galloway. Leigh was a retired probation officer from Cook County, Illinois, Kenny said.

Police recovered a loaded 9 mm handgun found between the dead woman, as well as another handgun among Lee’s possessions.

"The preliminary motive for this incident is going to be an ongoing domestic dispute between Ms. Galloway, her 4-year-old child’s [father] and the shooter," noted Kenny during a news conference later Friday.

The dispute had earlier resulted in five domestic incident reports to police and two complaints, none of which resulted in arrests, Kenny said.

A police investigative source who didn’t want to be identified said the custody dispute involved the 4-year-old child who was Leigh's grandchild.

The location of the incident is about a half a block away from Gracie Mansion, an area generally considered safe and relatively crime free. A spokesman for Adams didn’t immediately reply to a query about whether Adams was at the mansion when the shootings occurred.

Fordham University issued a statement following Galloway's death.

"The Fordham University community is deeply saddened by the tragic death of Marisa Galloway, a Fordham alumna who served as a volunteer assistant track and field coach at Fordham for 17 years until 2019."

The statement said Galloway earned a bachelor of arts degree at Rose Hill in 2001 and a master of science degree from the Fordham Graduate School of Education in 2005.

While at Fordham, she was a high jumper for the Rams and also participated in sprints and relay teams over her career, the statement said. She capped her senior season in 2001 by placing third in the high jump at the Metropolitan Championships, the university said.