Two People Found Shot to Death in East Harlem Senior Center, NYPD Says — Murder-Suicide or a Suspect at Large Still Unclear
A 55-year-old woman and a 66-year-old man were found with gunshot wounds to their heads at the Gaylord White Senior Center on East 104th Street late Thursday, the NYPD says — and early Friday police had not determined whether the shooting was a murder-suicide or whether a suspect remains at large.
Two people were found shot to death late Thursday inside a senior center in East Harlem, the New York Police Department said. Officers responded to a 911 call from the Gaylord White Senior Center, on East 104th Street at Second Avenue — part of a New York City Housing Authority complex — at around 8:30 p.m. on Thursday. When they arrived, they found a 55-year-old woman and a 66-year-old man, both with gunshot wounds to their heads.
Early Friday, the central question was still open. Police said it was unclear whether the incident was a murder-suicide, or whether there was another suspect at large; they did not have a description of a possible perpetrator, and they had not yet publicly identified the victims. This desk does not name victims or suspects police have not released, and it reports nothing about a motive, because officials have confirmed none.
The shooting lands in a precinct where gun violence has been falling. Shooting incidents in the 23rd Precinct, which serves East Harlem north of East 96th Street, are down by more than 37 percent this year compared with last year, according to NYPD data, and there has been one other murder in the precinct so far this year. Gun violence is also down compared with last year in East Harlem's public housing complexes, though police data shows there have been two other murders in that sector this year, whereas by this time last year there were none.
What happens next is the investigation itself: detectives will determine how the two people died and whether anyone else was involved, and any identification of the victims will come from police. This desk follows the NYPD's releases on this case each cycle and files an update the moment officials confirm more — a name released by police, an arrest, or a determination of what happened inside the senior center on Thursday night.
