Thomas Edward Stefka, 62, a White man, was going about an ordinary Wednesday morning on March 13, 2013, in Herkimer, New York, when violence spilled across the Mohawk Valley and reached him at work. A lifelong local resident known for staying busy, he had spent more than two decades as a social welfare examiner for the Herkimer County Department of Social Services before retiring, and later took part-time work at Gaffey’s Jiffy Lube and Car Wash in Herkimer—still keeping his days full,
still in the middle of the community he’d always called home.
That morning, authorities said the rampage began in the nearby village of Mohawk when a local man, Kurt Myers, allegedly set his own apartment on fire and then drove to John’s Barber Shop. There, police said, he opened fire with a shotgun, killing two men and wounding two others, turning a place of routine conversation and familiar faces into the first scene of terror. From there, investigators said, he crossed the Mohawk River into Herkimer and drove straight to the oil-change and car-wash business where Stefka was working.
At Gaffey’s, police said Myers shot and killed Stefka and another man who was there as a customer, then fled into the village, where law enforcement quickly narrowed the search to a nearby building and the day shifted into a tense siege. Tactical teams ringed the area, schools locked down, and residents were told to stay inside as hours stretched into an overnight standoff. Investigators later described the attacks as seemingly random and unprovoked, with no clear motive offered in the immediate aftermath.
By the next morning, officers moved in to end it. Accounts from authorities said the entry led to a shootout inside the building, and during those final moments Myers shot an FBI tactical K-9 named Ape. Officers returned fire, killing Myers and bringing the manhunt to a close—leaving no opportunity for an arrest, charges, trial, or conviction because the suspect did not survive the confrontation. Reports at the time also noted that Myers had little known criminal history beyond an old driving-under-the-influence arrest.
In the days that followed, Stefka was remembered not only as a victim of a sudden public nightmare, but as someone whose life had been filled with work, music, and people. Friends and family gathered for calling hours and services in Herkimer, and the wider community held vigils for the dead and the wounded—trying to stitch routine back together after a single morning had shattered it.
