Who was Joseph McCrimon? NY man shot dead wife, 2 daughters and himself as third child, 9, hid to call 911
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK: A 45-year-old man, Joseph McCrimon, allegedly killed himself after shooting his wife and her two daughters dead, according to reports. The shooting reportedly took place in Brooklyn, New York, on Monday, April 5, at 11.15 pm.
The victims are identified as McCrimon’s wife Rasheeda Barzey, 45, and her two daughters Chloe Spears, 16, and Solei Spears, 20. The accused was not the father of the two daughters. The shocking details from the police reports have further revealed that McCrimon and Barzey’s 9-year-old daughter made the call to 911, hiding in the closet while her father was on a shooting spree. NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said, "She was just calling 911, you know, if you can imagine, it's horrific, the 911, saying, 'Daddy was coming over for my birthday, and he shot people'."
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BREAKING: Police say a man shot and killed the mother of his 9yo daughter and 2 of her female family members insider her #Brownsville BK apartment. He then killed himself. Their daughter wasn’t injured but was the one who called 911. Latest on @CBSNewYork pic.twitter.com/lTjef1SKJa
— John Dias (@JohnBDias) April 6, 2021
Who was Joseph McCrimon?
McCrimon allegedly killed his wife and the two sisters in an apartment in the Van Dyke Houses in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn before he shot himself in the head. According to Daily Mail, he was “found dead in a nearby walkway area of 563 Mother Gaston Boulevard with a gunshot wound to the head, believed to be self-inflicted. A .38 revolver and a semi-automatic handgun were recovered by police.”
While the police haven’t revealed many details about the accused, Barzey’s former brother-in-law Hasely Derosena reportedly told the investigators that McCrimon had a “temper” but “was not an abusive person”. He further added, “He had a mental illness. He was hospitalized before. He tried to kill himself, but nothing like this. If he wanted to kill himself, fine, but why the girls? I knew he would be capable of doing something like this to a guy but not to the girls.”
According to reports, McCrimon lived in Mount Vernon and allegedly had a “violent criminal history”. He was reportedly convicted of first-degree manslaughter when he was 18. He reportedly shot a sanitation worker in Long Island in 1993. He was granted a conditional release in 2000 but returned to prison three years later for an “unspecified violation”. In 2013, he was sentenced to five years in prison after he pleaded guilty to robbing a bank. “McCrimon later denied robbing the bank and convinced an appeals court to reduce his sentence by a year,” the reports suggest.
The actual cause for the murder-suicide is yet to be determined, but the authorities reportedly said the couple had a “very rocky” relationship for years as was informed by their relatives.
New York Health + Hospitals, where Barzey reportedly worked, released a statement following her death and said, “We are deeply saddened by the senseless death of a member of the NYC Health + Hospitals family. In addition to reaching out to relatives, we have activated our Helping Healers Heal team to support those who worked beside this staff member and may need grief counseling.” She worked there as an administrative manager.