Woman, 2 Children Dead At Staten Island Home, Father Found Alongside BQE
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A woman and two children were found dead at a Staten Island home Saturday, and police say the family's father is being questioned after he was found walking along the Brooklyn Queens Expressway earlier that morning.
U.S. service members and family comforted one another in front of a two-story brick house where police made the horrifying discovery, reports CBS2's Matt Kozar.
According to police sources, the mother of the two boys, Alla Ausheva, was in the military, which is why members of military affairs were on scene.
Officers were sent to a home on Palisade Street around 10:30 a.m. in response to a 911 call about an assault in progress.
The home was filled with smoke when officers arrived. Firefighters were sent to the scene and extinguished a small fire inside the home. Inside officers found the bodies of a 36-year-old woman, a 3-year-old child and a 2-year-old child. All three victims were found in the same room of the house.
All three were pronounced dead at the scene. The causes of death have not been released, but police are treating the incident as a homicide investigation.
"They were innocent children, innocent children, why did they have to suffer for what was going on in their personal life?" said neighbor Karen Damatl.
Police said the 36-year-old man, who is believed to be the father of the children, was found walking along the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway just before 8 a.m. and was transported to a local hospital for evaluation.
NYPD Update On Bodies Found In Staten Island Home
The identities of the child victims and the person of interest have not yet been released, but police say they believe both Ausheva and the man are active members of the United States military. It is unknown if they were married.
Family and friends told CBS2 Ausheva was in the Air Force and the two young children were both boys.
Officers had responded to one domestic incident at the home in the past.
Peter Corma lives across the street and is shocked to hear what happened.
"A couple of neighbors up the block said we heard domestic violence yesterday, I didn't hear nothing," he said. "To be honest with you, he seemed like a regular guy, out there washing his car, listening to music."
