In a quiet Latham, New York neighborhood, a horrific tragedy unfolded on February 9, 2016, claiming the life of 10-year-old Nathan Roman. The young boy, a fifth-grader at Forts Ferry Elementary School, was shot and killed by his own father, Colonie police officer Israel Roman, in a shocking act of violence that also took the life of his mother, Deborah Roman.
That Tuesday afternoon, Nathan arrived home from school around 3:30 p.m. Within a short time, his father, Israel Roman, a 12-year veteran of the Colonie Police Department, carried out the killings. After shooting his wife and son, he moved their bodies to the master bedroom of their Schalren Drive home. He then set the house on fire before taking his own life with his police-issued handgun. The resulting blaze was so intense that the victims had to be identified using dental records.
The motive for the murder-suicide remains a mystery to investigators. Friends and colleagues of Israel Roman expressed shock, describing him as a dependable and low-key officer, and the act as entirely out of character. However, a childhood friend of Deborah Roman recounted a conversation from years prior where she described her husband as controlling. On the day of the killings, Israel Roman had taken four of his guns to a local gun store, selling three of them. He also moved his older son's belongings into a car and called his own mother to arrange for his grandson to be picked up after a school basketball game, suggesting a degree of planning.
The couple's 15-year-old son, Noah, was not home at the time of the incident, having been at a school basketball game. The investigation into the deaths was handled by the New York State Police to ensure objectivity. Despite a thorough investigation, which included interviews with family and friends and a toxicology report on Israel Roman, a clear motive was never established. The case was eventually closed without a definitive answer as to why the decorated police officer committed such a devastating act.
