Two men in New York City perished in an apparent murder-suicide linked to a dispute over the selling of their family property.
The New York City Police Department (NYPD) confirmed to PEOPLE that police were dispatched to a home in Queens’ Jamaica area at approximately 11:45 p.m. local time on Friday, Oct. 3, following reports of a gunshot.
Police discovered two guys, aged 37 and 41, with gunshot wounds to the head. Emergency medical professionals pronounced the 37-year-old dead on the site and transferred the 41-year-old to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead. According to the New York Daily News, cops discovered a handgun near the elder man.
According to relatives and police sources who talked with the Daily News and the New York Post, the two men were cousins who were at odds over the sale of their family’s property and how much money each person would receive after it was sold.
According to the sites, the two-bedroom Queens home had been on the market for nearly a month with an asking price of $600,000.
“It was an issue with the sale of the house, some disagreement over how the money was going to be divided up,” a 62-year-old guy – the two men’s uncle — told the Post.
On October 22, 2022, an NYPD car drives down a street in New York City, United States.
According to a relative who requested anonymity, the shooter was in charge of selling the house, and his younger cousin was aiding him with the sale.
According to the pair’s uncle, the elder man gave his younger cousin power of attorney to sell the house due to his real estate history, but the two began squabbling about the sale.
“It had something to do with the sale of the house,” the relative told the media. “It was something to do with the distribution of money.”
The uncle, who lives in the basement and discovered the younger guy dead, believes the shooter spent several hours inside the house with his cousin’s body before turning the gun on himself.
The uncle became aware that anything was awry when the younger victim’s longstanding companion stated that she had been waiting outside for him for several hours.
“She said [his] truck was here, and I haven’t heard from him since 11 a.m.,” a neighbor told the Daily News. “I said, ‘I don’t know, but the truck has been there since [noon].'”
When the two entered the residence, it was “already dark,” and they discovered the body of the younger victim.
“We had to go around into the living room area,” the uncle explained to the Daily News. “When she put the light on, she saw [her partner’s] body lying against the door.”
“She sees him.” She yells. “She starts crying,” he said. “He was not moving. “He must have been there for a while.”
The relative also stated that he and the woman left the residence because they were frightened that the shooter was still inside.
“I grabbed her and said, ‘We gotta get out of here because he’s probably still in here,'” the uncle told the Post. “She claimed she heard something coming from upstairs. We heard a gunshot as we were walking out.
The NYPD has not officially identified the two males, and they have confirmed to PEOPLE that the investigation is still underway.
