Audio from Ring cameras is now evidence in Syosset murder-suicide. Here's the latest on the investigation.
SYOSSET, N.Y. -- Those living in a Long Island neighborhood cul-de-sac are trying to come to terms with the devastating sights and sounds they heard and witnessed following the murder-suicide that left five people dead in Syosset on Sunday.
CBS News New York spoke to co-workers, friends and neighbors, who wondered about warning signs before a 59-year-old man killed his family over an inheritance.
Here's what police say happened on Sunday
The lawn chair was still visible where police found the deceased shooter, Joseph Delucia Jr. He was the brother and uncle to the four lives he took in cold blood.
Audio and then a gunshot from several neighbors' Ring camera videos stand as evidence that is now in possession of Nassau County police.
"It was a high-pitched scream as perhaps he was taking in what he had done, and then the shot," neighbor Sandy Landsman said.
"You could hear him. It was really chilling. You could hear him screaming, crying, and then a shot," neighbor Wendy Paisner said.
Before taking his own life, Delucia Jr. fired his pump-action shotgun 12 times and killed his sister, Joanne Kearns, 69, of Tampa, Florida; brother Frank Delucia, 64, of Durham, North Carolina; his other sister Tina Hammond, 64, and her daughter Victoria Hammond, 30, both of East Patchogue, New York.
Police said Joseph Delucia was despondent over the death of his 95-year-old old mother, Theresa, a beloved nurse for decades, and thought he was being cut out of the will and would have no place to move. He worked as an auto mechanic at a Hicksville dealership after losing his EMT license in 2020.
Police said he became a hoarder.
Red flag laws allow police to seize weapons if someone is determined to be a threat to themselves or others. There are records of just one wellness check on him in 2022. Intervention was deemed unnecessary at the time.
Co-workers remember "friendly, energetic" Tina Hammond
Hammond was a respected colorist for more than 35 years at a popular Rosyln Heights salon, her former manager said. After moving to Florida, she returned to Long Island and working at Giunta's Meat Farm in Bohemia as a cashier.
"Bubbly, energetic, friendly, kind words for everybody, help anybody she could," general manager Steven Huey said.
Huey said he and her coworkers are devastated, adding customers started crying.
"When I got the call and heard the news. I was just shocked, nauseous, sick, disheartening. She is going to be so missed," co-worker Hannah DeBeauchamp said.
"She would come on her off days and her daughter would come with her. It was always so nice to see them together and how close they were," co-worker Gianna Russo added.