A former Suffolk County corrections officer shot and wounded a woman, barricaded himself inside his home and died by suicide Saturday, authorities said.
Gerard Senatore, 66, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound around 3:30 p.m. when officers stormed the residence in Ridge, Newsday reported.
Officers had first responded to the home around 1 p.m. following reports of a shooting, according to News 12 Long Island. A 68-year-old woman who had been shot twice was airlifted to a local hospital with serious injuries.
While police did not identify the woman, neighbors and witnesses told News 12 she was Senatore’s wife. The house is about 55 miles east of Manhattan’s Central Park.
After officers arrived at the scene, they formed a perimeter around the house, but Senatore refused to exit, Newsday reported. They blared a recorded message asking him to peacefully leave, but there was no movement.
Following hours of waiting, an armored vehicle was used to breach the home’s front door, and cops found Senatore dead inside the residence.
“It’s scary, I mean this is such a quiet neighborhood, everyone’s so friendly, and it’s shocking,” resident Jaime Ruiz told News 12. Portions of the neighborhood were blocked off for four hours.
Senatore was on the Suffolk County payroll until at least 2014 as a correction officer with the sheriff’s department, according to Newsday.
