Joseph DeLucia killed 3 siblings, niece in Syosset murder-suicide, police say

A Syosset man who police said feared being forced from the home he had shared with his late mother used a shotgun Sunday to kill four family members inside the residence, before stepping out and turning the weapon on himself.

Joseph DeLucia, 59, died on the front lawn of the Wyoming Court home after he shot himself in the chest with the pump-action shotgun he had just used to kill his two sisters, brother and niece, Nassau police said Monday at a news conference.

"In 41 years, that was one of the most horrific scenes I’ve ever seen," Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said. “Walking into that back room of that house where these four victims lie after being shot multiple times, and the shooter being on the front lawn, [who] also committed suicide.”

After responding Sunday, Nassau officers entered the home. Inside, police said, officers discovered the victims: DeLucia's sister Joanne Kearns, 69, of Tampa, Florida; his brother, Frank DeLucia, 64, of Durham, North Carolina; his sister Tina Hammond, 64, and her daughter, Victoria Hammond, 30, both of East Patchogue.

An interment for the mother, Theresa DeLucia, 95, was held Friday at Calverton National Cemetery, according to police and the website Dignitymemorial.com.

The family had gone to the home Sunday to meet about selling it, said Nassau County Police Capt. Stephen Fitzpatrick, commanding officer of the department's homicide unit.

The potential sale led Joseph DeLucia to be worried about where he would live next, Fitzpatrick said.

"The perception of Joseph was that he was ... without a place to go," he said.

DeLucia stood in the kitchen of the home and fired 12 shots into the den at the rear, killing the family members, according to police.

After firing and reloading the Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun multiple times, DeLucia took a patio chair from the front porch, sat on the lawn and shot himself in the chest, Fitzpatrick said. A neighbor heard the shooting and dialed 911.

The scene outside

Neighbor Peter Behr, 68, said he was parking his white work van in its usual spot along the curb when he saw Delucia emerge from the home next door.

"He comes out screaming and crying like I’ve never heard a grown man in my life," Behr said, adding that he chose to remain in his van.

He watched DeLucia sit in a lawn chair, but did not notice a weapon.

"All the sudden, a couple of seconds later, ‘pop,’" Behr said. "I see him fall on the ground and the blood. Then I got out of my van trying to dial 911, but I was too shaky."

Police were investigating past reports that DeLucia had made ominous statements before the shooting, such as, "If you hear gunshots, don't call police because it will be too late," Ryder said.

Investigators also focused on reports of possible psychological and mental health issues in the past involving DeLucia, and urged anyone who suspects someone may be having a mental health crisis to notify police. Ryder said red flag laws allow police to seize weapons if someone is determined to be a threat to themselves or others.

Police were last called to the home in 2022, but DeLucia was not determined to be a threat.

"We're not saying this incident could have been averted, but maybe it could," Fitzpatrick said. "But if he was reported to be mentally unstable, this may be illegal to possess," he added, referring to the shotgun.

Legal shotgun

Behr, a Syosset resident since 1998, described Joseph DeLucia as "off." Behr said he would wave to DeLucia, often when the neighbor was fixing his mother’s aging car.

"He was a nice guy, but then sometimes he wasn’t a nice guy," Behr recalled. "His moods would change ... He used to talk to himself, mumble and jumble, talking and cursing by himself."

Fitzpatrick said the shotgun was legally possessed and had no alterations. He said DeLucia's only prior criminal history was a traffic stop for driving while impaired in 1983. He was an auto mechanic, Fitzpatrick said. Separately, the New York State Department of Health confirmed that DeLucia had been certified as an Emergency Medical Technician, but that his certification had expired in 2020. They did not say when he was first certified.

On Sunday, the quiet neighborhood had been transformed into a crime scene.

Syosset real estate agent Mary Macaluso said she came to the home at 12:30 p.m. for an appointment with the DeLucia family. Macaluso said she arrived to find the police had blocked off Wyoming Court, a cul-de-sac.

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," Macaluso said.

'I’ve lost part of me'

Lynda Coumou, of Hicksville, described Kearns, her former neighbor and friend of more than two decades, as “a beautiful Christian” who “would do anything for her friends.”

After Kearns moved south to Tampa, their friendship endured, Coumou said.

“I can’t wrap my head around it," she said of her friend’s death. “We’d sit out here, and we’d have dinner in the evening in the summertime. It’s like I’ve lost part of me.”

Neighbor Randy Marquis was preparing to bring Italian food and wine to the DeLucia home to celebrate Tina Hammond’s birthday before the family discussed selling the home. Instead, Marquis said, she found a crime scene and her neighborhood blocked off by police and ambulances.

"It's very tragic. The victims are in heaven," Marquis said while standing on her front step, wiping away tears.

She said she had helped care for Theresa DeLucia.

Following DeLucia's death last week, Marquis visited and consoled the family. Joseph DeLucia was distraught, she added, worried that he would be homeless. Marquis said the mother's will left instructions to sell the house as soon as she died, but the siblings had offered to take care of him.

"He loved his mom. His mom was always there for him," Marquis said. "His sister said she worried for him. She said there was nothing left for him here. He was sitting in the front yard and said, 'I'm going to be homeless.' It's very unfortunate and I can't imagine."

In East Patchogue, Marion Powell said Tina and Victoria Hammond had been renting a room in her house for the past year.

Powell said it seemed "odd" that Tina Hammond's car was missing Monday morning when she went to work. She had last seen the mother and daughter Sunday morning when they left for Syosset to meet the rest of the family.

"It's terrible," Powell said, adding that Tina had lived in Florida but left and came to Long Island after her husband died.

"They'd sit in the backyard with us and things like that. Nice people," Powell said. "I didn't know she had a brother."

Co-workers shocked

Steven Huey, the general manager of Giunta's Meat Farms in Bohemia, said Tina Hammond had worked as an early-morning cashier since February 2023. Huey said he felt "shock" after learning of his employee’s death.

"It doesn’t make any sense," he said. "It puts life in a whole different perspective. That person is never going to be here again and it doesn’t seem fair."

While most employees knew of the killings, Huey, 64, of Patchogue, on Monday said many regular customers "have called already to find out if what they heard was true."

"She made a lot of friends," he said of Hammond. He last saw her Thursday and her final shift was Saturday.

"There’s going to be a lot of people that will be asking about her."

On Hammond's days off, Huey said, she would visit the store to shop alongside her daughter, Victoria.

"Her daughter was a lot like her," he said. "Bubbly, smiley, friendly ... ‘Hello’ to everybody."

Wyoming Court was quiet Monday morning after police had cleared the crime scene.

A rusted metal patio chair sat in front of the home. A porch light remained on and some of the windows were open. Two cars sat parked in the driveway. A pickup with North Carolina plates was parked in front of the house.

Sandy Landsman, 73, who lives across the street, said he didn't hear any gunshots but his dog began to bark as the police descended on the DeLucia home.

Landsman said when he reviewed his Ring camera footage, screaming and a gunshot were audible

"I was shocked," Landsman said. "I never would have thought anything like this would happen."