Family Weekend Turns Deadly For Father Visiting Marist College in New York
The father of a Marist College student was shot dead Sunday morning while in town for family weekend. Marist, located in Poughkeepsie, New York, is a private liberal arts college serving approximately 5,000 students. The shooting occurred at a Marriott hotel near the college.
While investigating the shooting and securing the building, officers found a firearm and manuals related to the making of explosive devices, as well as materials with the potential to be used as explosives.
The relative of a Marist College student died Sunday morning in a shooting at a hotel 10 minutes down the road from the school where “Family Weekend” was underway, college and police officials said.
Multiple agencies responded to the Courtyard by Marriott in the Town of Poughkeepsie around 7:30 a.m. for reports of shots fired inside the hotel, police said in a statement.
Officers arrived at the hotel on South Road and located a man inside, suffering from an apparent fatal gunshot wound. He was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said.
Two suspects were also located in the area of the hotel and taken into custody, according to Chief Joseph Cavaliere. Investigators recovered a firearm as well as materials “used to make explosives,” the chief told News 4.
“During the building search, a hotel room was found to contain manuals related to the making of explosive devices, as well as materials with the potential to be used as explosives,” police said in a statement.
Law enforcement sources said the gunman and another man were smoking a PCP-like substance in their hotel room Sunday morning. The gunman went downstairs to the lobby to get coffee and he ended up arguing with hotel staff and other people. Then he took out a gun and started firing.
NBC New York reports the men were taken into custody and are being investigated for prior crimes including robbery and murder.
The two men in custody in connection with the Poughkeepsie hotel shooting that killed a Marist College student’s relative Sunday are being investigated for a previous robbery and murder, three law enforcement sources with direct knowledge of the investigation said Monday.
The sources identified the two as Roy Johnson Jr. and Devin Taylor. Taylor is believed to be the Courtyard Marriott shooter, the sources said, and he is also suspected to have been the shooter in the previous case. No details on that prior case were immediately available. More information is expected to be shared at a Monday afternoon briefing.
Earlier, a senior law enforcement official said the suspected shooter, had a Glock switch on his handgun that made it fully automatic. That gun, which took the life of an innocent bystander, sources said, is believed to have been found on the roof of his car, and a second weapon — an apparent ghost rifle — was discovered in the room both men shared.
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