Staten Island Mother Shot To Death While Children Were Home, Man Questioned
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - A mother was shot to death early this morning inside her Staten Island home while her children were nearby.
Police responded to a 911 call for shots fired shortly before 1 a.m. at a house on South Avenue near Arlington Place in the Mariner's Harbor neighborhood.
Officers found the 38-year-old with a gunshot wound to her head.
Police said a man she knew turned himself in Thursday evening and was being questioned about the murder.
Investigators are not releasing their names or nature of their relationship. Right now, there are no charges and no comment from police on a possible motive.
Crime scene investigators wearing protective white suits emerged from a house on South Avenue near Arlington Place on Thursday afternoon. Officers blocked the entire street for hours as they searched for clues.
"It's sad, it's sad, because - by me living there next to them for the last seven years, this is out of the ordinary," a neighbor told CBS2's Jenna DeAngelis. "I'm definitely surprised of it coming from that house. This neighborhood is - it's the neighborhood - but for this incident that happened, this is very surprising."
"I heard firecrackers around 12 - a little bit past 12 - but I didn't come outside to investigate because I really thought it was firecrackers," neighbor Benson Tang said.
"It's crazy. That's what I think about it. Too many lives being lost unnecessarily," another neighbor added.
Police said the victim's teenage son and stepson were in another room and did not witness the shooting. One of the boys called 911 for help.
Investigators were trying to track down her husband, who was also home at the time but gone before officers arrived on the scene.
"He comes, he goes, he'll speak to people, 'Hello, how you doing, this that and the third,' but this is out of the ordinary," the first neighbor said.
When asked whether he ever saw the couple fight, he replied, "No, never."
Area residents also say there's been a constant police presence at the intersection including a tower just feet from the house for unrelated issues in the neighborhood, reports Aundrea Cline-Thomas.
"There's always a police car there on the side by the store and there's one in the tower every night," said Carlos Diaz, who lives in the neighborhood. "For them not to hear something or not to hear nothing, it's impossible. They're right there and it's really close by."
Police did not confirm if they were close by when shots were fired. Investigators said there was no sign of forced entry and they believe this was a domestic situation.