On April 2, 2020, Heather Y. Zujkowski, a 36-year-old disabled United States Army veteran, was tragically killed in her home in Mount Airy, Maryland. A mother of three, she was shot by her estranged husband, 35-year-old Joseph Zujkowski, who also fatally shot a neighbor before taking his own life.
Authorities reported that Joseph Zujkowski used a rifle to shoot his wife inside their home on Bennett Branch Road.
During the incident, a neighbor, 18-year-old Noah Homayouni, was also shot and killed outside. After the shootings, Joseph Zujkowski fled the scene. Law enforcement was able to make contact with him by phone as he returned to his own residence in Gaithersburg. Upon the arrival of the police, a brief standoff ensued, which ended with Joseph Zujkowski taking his own life.
The couple had been separated, and a protective order that had been issued against Joseph Zujkowski had expired in January of that year. Heather and Joseph had three children together, who were inside the home at the time of the shooting but were not physically harmed. Friends of the family indicated that Joseph Zujkowski, a former Army ranger, had been struggling with PTSD.
Heather Zujkowski was born on December 1, 1983, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She had worked as a French linguist at Fort Meade and was an active volunteer for several organizations. The community rallied around her three children, who were left orphaned by the tragedy. The motive for the shooting of Noah Homayouni was not immediately known to investigators.
