Simple request in Long Island woman’s will sparked her son’s devastating shotgun rampage on siblings

The simple wishes of a Long Island mother sparked her son to go on a murderous rampage, massacring his three siblings and niece with a shotgun before turning the weapon on himself. 

Joseph DeLucia went on his demented killing spree while the family had gathered at their mother Theresa’s home to discuss her will about a week after she died . 

The 95-year-old woman’s will, signed in 2007, decreed that her estate was to be split equally among her four children upon her death.

But the carving up of the estate would mean selling of the Syosset home where Joseph had lived with his mother his entire life until her passing – essentially rendering him homeless. 

Distraught son Joe DeLucia Jr, left, thought he’d end up homeless and killed four of his family before turning the gun on himself as they met to discuss winding up his late mother’s affairs

‘I direct any member of my family who may be living in such home at the time of my death to vacate same to facilitate such sale and empower my Executor to take any and all steps reasonably required to effectuate this provision of my Will,’ Theresa DeLucia’s will states, which was made public in Nassau County court this week. 

It would have seen Joseph receive a quarter of his late mother’s estate. 

Dealing with the loss of his mother and now coupled with facing the loss off the home he had lived most of his life, Joseph, a former EMT and mechanic, appeared to to snap and went on a shooting spree killing his three siblings and a niece.

Joseph got hold of a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun and in cold blood shot dead his two sisters, Joanne Kearns, 69, of Tampa, Florida, Tina Hammond, 64, of East Patchogue, and his brother, Frank DeLucia, 63, of Durham, North Carolina. 

After wiping out his siblings, he then shot dead his niece, Victoria Hammond, 30, of East Patchogue.

DeLucia’s sister Tina Hammond, 64, was shot dead. She still lived on Long Island and helped look after her mother and brother

Tina’s daughter, Victoria Hammond, 30, was  Joseph’s niece. She was also shot dead

Oldest sister Joanne Kearns, 69, from Tampa, was in town for the funeral and also killed

Joseph DeLucia used this 12-gauge pump-action shotgun that he legally bought, to gun down his family

Officers found Joseph DeLucia with a self-inflicted gunshot wound on the front lawn of this Syosset, New York home. The four other victims were found inside

All four were found shot to death in the den at the back of the house when police went in after finding DeLucia’s body outside. 

Joseph finally took his own life, shooting himself in the front yard of the home. 

‘The perception of Joseph Jr. was that he was being cut out of the will and was going to be displaced without a place to go,’ Nassau County Police Capt. Stephen Fitzpatrick said, noting how he had mental health issues. 

DeLucia had always suffered from such problems, and was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, depriving him of oxygen.

But his mental state nosedived after his mother died on August 19.

He said his siblings tried to assure him that he would be looked after no matter what happened, but he didn’t believe them. 

‘Because of that perception, he decided that day to get a loaded, Mossberg shotgun, 12 gauge, approached them in the rear area of the house, and from the kitchen, fired 12 shots, striking all four of them multiple times,’ he said.

The house is believed to be worth about $900,000. Family members wanted an assessment done quickly because two of the siblings had come from out of town 

DeLucia opened fire inside the family home on Wyoming Court in Syosset, on Long Island last month

The house is believed to be worth about $900,000. Family members wanted an assessment done quickly because two of the siblings had come from out of town for the funeral, and were headed back to Florida and North Carolina.

Joseph had lived in the house his entire life, and neighbors said losing the home was just too unbearable for him.

Fitzpatrick said there was a welfare check on the home in 2022 but DeLucia ‘was not displaying any signs of anything that we would take action’.

‘He had past mental issues, psych issues, that were reported to us,’ he said. 

“He was kind of a hoarder, spent all his money on his tools and stuff. The house was pretty much packed with tools and stuff involved in auto mechanics.

‘He lived there all his life, never lived on his own. So you can see the mindset where his world was now changing, at 59 years old, and he was panicking.’