DA: Deer Park man pleads guilty to wife's fatal shooting

A Deer Park man has pleaded guilty to murder in the November 2020 shooting death of his wife, after which he turned the gun on himself, prosecutors announced Thursday.

Paul Bonny, 35, entered the plea to a second-degree murder charge before Judge John Collins, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release. Bonny faces up to 21 years to life in prison when he is sentenced May 24.

On Nov. 9, 2020, Bonny and his wife, Cathiana, were arguing outside their home on Eastwood Avenue in Deer Park at about 8:51 p.m., when he shot her three times before pulling the gun on himself, prosecutors said. The couple’s two daughters, then 6 and 12, were inside a vehicle in the driveway of the residence at the time of the shooting, Suffolk police said back then

Cathiana Bonny was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip, where she was pronounced dead, authorities said. She was also 35. Paul Bonny was hospitalized in serious condition.

The couple’s daughters were unharmed and released to the custody of a family member, Suffolk police said at the time.

“Domestic violence cases are especially traumatizing to the children having to witness them. This defendant not only killed his wife in front of their two young daughters, but he further traumatized them by pulling the trigger on himself in a cowardly attempt to escape justice,” Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said in a statement.

“Now he has left two young girls without parents," Tierney said, "and he’s going to spend an extensive amount of time in prison paying for what he’s done.”