Double-murder suspect killed in police standoff

Suspect in Pennsylvania country home shootings shot dead; NYC man, 2-yr.-old boy dead, 3 injured

DAILY NEWS WRITER

Originally Published:Monday, July 4th 2011, 2:12 PM
Updated: Monday, July 4th 2011, 4:54 PM

Mark Richard Geisenheyner, suspect in the Bechtelsville, Pa., mass shooting, was shot and killed Monday after a standoff with police.

Pratt Institute Professor Monica Shay is fighting for her life with a gunshot wound to the head.

Family Photo

Two-year-old Gregory Erdmann died in the horrific attack.

A man eyed in a Pennsylvania massacre that left two people dead and an East Village couple wounded was shot dead Monday by cops who cornered him in a hideout.
Mark Geisenheyner, 51, was killed by SWAT team members, capping a six-hour standoff at a house in Trainer, Pa., officials said.
Geisenheyner, who had a lengthy rap sheet in Massachusetts and New York, was armed with a .45 caliber handgun, said Delaware County prosecutors Mike Green and Risa Vetri Ferman.
Authorities said the slayings stemmed from a feud Geisenheyner had with one of the wounded victims, Paul Shay, an East Village plumber.
Since getting out of prison a year ago, the gunman vowed revenge against Shay for stiffing him in an 2006 insurance fraud scam, officials said.
Geisenheyner tracked Shay, 64, to his vacation home in rural Montgomery County and broke in late Saturday.
"Guess you never thought you'd see me again," Geisenheyner announced when he broke in, a survivor told investigators.
It remained a mystery why Geisenheyner would also shoot Shay's wife, Monica, 58, a Pratt Institute professor, and everyone else in their vacation home in Bechtelsville, Pa.
Shay's nephew, Joseph, 43, and his girlfriend's 2-year-old son, Gregory, were killed.
Paul and Monica Shay, and the girlfriend, Kathryn Erdmann, 37, were in critical condition Monday. All of the victims were shot in the head.
"He [Geisenheyner] obviously indicated that he intended to seek revenge against the one victim. There's no explanation that I'm aware of as to why he would have shot at and killed multiple victims, including a 2-year-old child," Green said.
After long-running negotiations yesterday, Geisenheyner was shot in the basement.
"He was determined not to surrender, not to end up in a prison again," said Green without elaborating.
One neighbor, Mike Hoopes, said he heard what sounded like a gunshot after officers had fired percussion bombs into the house.
"I heard a quick shot after that, and next thing you know, an ambulance was coming down the alley," Hoopes told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "I saw the body coming out of the house, covered with a sheet."
A man who lives in the home and knows the suspect called KYW-AM Monday morning and said his Geisenheyner had phoned him late Sunday saying he needed a place to hide.
After the Geisenheyner came over and fell asleep, the caller said he snuck out of the house.
He told the station the suspect had said he knew one of the victims.
The standoff with Geisenheyner came to a end as officers said Monica Shay, a Pratt Institute professor, was in grave condition and may not survive.
"It doesn't look good," a detective told neighbors outside the family's country home in Bechtelsville, about 100 miles from New York City. "She was shot right in the head and probably won't make it."
Cops discovered the grisly scene after Erdmann managed to call 911 to report that she had been shot.Read more: