Drunk ex-convict kills grandmother and abuses grandchild she was watching before killing self in standoff
BY CHRISTINE ARMARIO AND JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER
Newsday
WEST ISLIP, N.Y. — A drunken ex-convict stabbed and killed a grandmother in West Islip, then sexually assaulted one of the grandchildren she was baby-sitting before turning a rifle on himself and taking his own life yesterday afternoon, Suffolk police said.
As police tried to negotiate with the killer - who barricaded himself and the two children inside the Kime Avenue home - nearby residents were forced into a lockdown for more than 14 tense hours during what should have been a relaxing Memorial Day.
Shortly after 10 p.m. on Sunday, Philip Zagarella arrived at the home to see the ex-wife of his boss, Homicide Squad Det. Lt. Jack Fitzpatrick said. Police said Zagarella was an employee in the ex-husband’s construction company and a family friend.
The ex-wife, the mother of the two children, wasn’t home but the grandmother let Zagarella in, Fitzpatrick said. She was baby-sitting one of her daughter’s children and soon left to pick up another child while Zagarella stayed at the house.
When the woman returned, she and Zagarella had a confrontation and he cut her throat in the garage, Fitzpatrick said.
Soon after, Zagarella sexually assaulted one of the children who had been upstairs while he killed their grandmother. Fitzpatrick did not provide details of the attack or identify which child was victimized.
Newsday is not naming any family members because one of the children was the victim of a sexual assault.
The children’s mother returned at about 12:30 a.m. and saw her own mother lying in the garage, Fitzpatrick said. Zagarella ordered her inside, but she saw he had a high-powered hunting rifle and ran to a neighbor’s home across the street.
“I need help, I need help,” she screamed, the neighbor, Frank Gatto, recalled yesterday. “My mother, she’s in a pool of blood.”
Gatto, a New York City firefighter, took the frantic woman inside and called 911. He said he could hear the children - a 13-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy - inside the house crying for their mother.
At around 3:30 a.m., the children were released to police.
All the while, police negotiated with Zagarella, 50, who remained inside with the rifle. Because of the weapon’s range, some neighbors were removed from the area. Others living on nearby blocks were not allowed in or out of the area. SWAT team officers and snipers were present throughout the day. The Southern State Parkway, which runs along Kime Avenue, was closed in both directions.
Police spoke with Zagarella on the phone at various times and even had Zagarella’s family members talk to him on the phone to encourage him to surrender, Fitzpatrick said.
At one point, an officer with a loudspeaker bellowed, “Phil, we need to make contact. Pick up the phone.”
“At certain points, we thought we had a peaceful resolution,” Fitzpatrick said. “It turned out not to be the case.”
Police said Zagarella killed himself at about 2:50 p.m. in an upstairs bedroom. Earlier, neighbors had heard muffled shots; Zagarella told police he had accidentally fired a round into the floor. At one point, as a police robot tried to get inside, Zagarella fired at the front door, believing it was an officer, Fitzpatrick said.
Zagarella, a recovering alcoholic who recently had started drinking again, was drunk during the ordeal, Fitzpatrick said. Zagarella told police he went to the house to settle a financial dispute with his boss, the ex-husband, who could not be reached yesterday.
A neighbor who would only be identified as Greg remembered the grandmother as a woman who “would light up the room,” but also had the courage to not back down in a confrontation. Her relatives could not be reached last night.
A Kime Avenue resident who has known the family for two years said he spoke with them last night. “They’re miserable, totally miserable, and shocked,” said the neighbor, who asked not to be identified. “Right now, everyone is devastated. The family just got ripped apart.”
Records show Zagarella pleaded guilty to third-degree assault in Nassau County in 1998 and served earlier prison sentences for burglary and assault committed upstate. Fitzpatrick said Zagarella also had a prior conviction for attempted murder.
Emerson Clarridge contributed to this story.
Copyright 2007 Newsday