In a quiet Syosset, New York neighborhood, a family dispute over an inheritance culminated in a horrific act of violence that claimed the life of 69-year-old Frank DeLucia and four other family members. The tragedy unfolded just two days after the funeral of the family matriarch, Theresa Martha Delucia, when her son, Joseph Delucia Jr., 51, opened fire on his siblings and niece before taking his own life.
Frank DeLucia, a retired firefighter from Durham, North Carolina, had traveled to his childhood home following his mother's death.
The dispute reportedly arose from Joseph Jr.'s fear of being left homeless as the family made plans to sell the house where he had lived with his mother. Believing he was being cut out of the will, Joseph Jr., a former EMT turned auto mechanic with a history of psychological issues, used a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun to shoot his brother Frank, his sisters Joanne Kearns, 64, and Tina Hammond, 64, and his niece, Victoria Hammond, 30. He fired a total of 12 shots inside the home, striking each of his victims multiple times.
Following the murders, Joseph Delucia Jr. walked out to the front lawn and took his own life with a self-inflicted gunshot to the chest. Neighbors' Ring camera footage captured the chilling sounds of screaming followed by a final gunshot. Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder described the scene inside the home as 'one of the most horrific' he had witnessed in his career. Surviving family members later clarified that Joseph Jr. was not being cut out of the will but was going to be relocated. The shotgun used in the murder-suicide was legally registered, though questions remained about whether his reported mental instability should have prevented him from possessing a firearm. A wellness check had been conducted on Joseph Jr. in 2022, but at the time, intervention was not deemed necessary.
