DA: Suspect Who Shot Five, Including Fall River Toddler, Sought Revenge
PHILADELPHIA (CBS/AP) -- Prosecutors say the suspect in a deadly rampage near Philadelphia has been killed by SWAT team members after they entered a suburban home.
Authorities identify the gunman as 51-year-old Mark Richard Geisenheyner.
Delaware County District Attorney G. Michael Green says Geisenheyner was killed after hours of negotiations failed.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Kim Tunnicliffe reports
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Authorities say that Geisenheyner went to a friend's house on Sunday and disclosed elements of a Saturday night shooting rampage that had not been made public.
Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Ferman says Geisenheyner knew shooting victim Paul Shay from a 2006 insurance fraud scheme.
Geisenheyner, a career criminal, was suspected of shooting five people, two of them fatally, inside a suburban home over an insurance fraud scheme.
Among them, the homeowner's nephew and a toddler from Fall River were killed in the Saturday attack.
The homeowner, Paul Shay, his wife and the toddler's mother remain in critical condition.
Since leaving prison last year, Geisenheyner had been vowing revenge on Shay.
Geisenheyner broke into Shay's vacation home late Saturday and said, "Guess you never thought you'd see me again," Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Ferman said, citing the accounts of two survivors. He then shot five people in the head, killing 43-year-old Joseph Shay, of Yarmouth, Mass., and New York City, and 2-year-old Gregory Erdmann, of Fall River, Mass. Paul Shay, his wife and the toddler's mother remained in critical condition Monday.
Shay and Geisenheyner knew each other from a 2006 insurance fraud scheme that involved Shay's home, Ferman said. She could not immediately provide details.
On Sunday, Geisenheyner went to the home of a friend he had known in prison and talked for several hours about the slayings, offering details not known to the public, prosecutors said.
When he fell asleep, the friend and a companion sneaked out, calling police just before 5 a.m. Monday.
Police and SWAT teams surrounded the home in Trainer, making contact with the armed suspect by cellphone throughout the morning.
"He was determined not to surrender, not to end up in a prison again," Delaware County District Attorney G. Michael Green told The Associated Press.
"He obviously indicated that he intended to seek revenge against the one victim. There's no explanation that I'm aware of as to why he would have shot at and killed multiple victims, including a 2-year-old child," Green said.
Geisenheyner had a lengthy criminal history dating to the 1970s, including robbery and burglary arrests, Ferman said.
Paul Shay, 64, owns a plumbing company and lives in the East Village of Manhattan with his 58-year-old wife Monica Shay, who works as the director of the arts and cultural management program at Pratt Institute. They spent their free time at the Pennsylvania home.
Paul Shay and the boy's mother, 37-year-old Kathryn Erdmann, who was dating Joseph Shay, have been able to speak to investigators, officials said. They have extensive injuries but are expected to survive, authorities said.
Geisenheyner had a .45-caliber weapon with him Monday, but used a .22-caliber weapon in the Saturday shootings, the prosecutors said. The murder weapon has not been recovered, but authorities have several leads about where it might be, Ferman said.
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