A retired Port Authority Police Department officer fatally shot his sister and wounded his elderly mother before turning the gun on himself in an apparent murder-suicide in the Bronx, New York City, on January 22, 2026, police sources said.
The shooting unfolded just before 8 a.m. inside a ground-floor apartment at 2500 Johnson Avenue in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. Three people were shot, with two pronounced dead at the scene.
Officers from the 50th Precinct responded after the building’s reception desk called 911 to report multiple shots fired. Upon arrival, police discovered a 55-year-old man lying in the hallway with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head. A firearm was recovered next to his body, and a Port Authority Police Department identification card was found nearby.
The man was pronounced dead at the scene. Police sources confirmed he was a retired Port Authority officer.
Inside a bedroom of the apartment, officers found a 59-year-old woman shot in the head. She was also pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators determined she was the man’s sister.
An 86-year-old woman, believed to be the mother of both the shooter and his sister, was discovered shot in the face in another part of the apartment. She was rushed to Harlem Hospital in critical but stable condition.
Detectives are investigating the incident as a domestic shooting.
Jane Burbank, a neighbor who knew the 59-year-old victim identified only as Maria, expressed shock and grief over the tragedy. “She was a wonderful person, she was full of life. She loved to dance, she loved to get people together, she loved to cook, she loved to eat,” Burbank said.
The victim worked for New York State and loved to dance and travel. She was looking forward to her retirement so she could travel more, Burbank said.
Burbank told reporters she did not know the shooter.
The violence shattered the normally quiet atmosphere of the Riverdale neighborhood, leaving residents stunned and searching for answers.
Elise Selanga, another resident, described the chaotic scene outside the building. “I looked out my window, and I saw an immersion of cars and ambulances and so forth. And then my neighbor told me that she had heard from somebody in the building that there had been a murder, and then I heard from someone else that it’s a suicide-homicide,” Selanga said.
Daniel Gallant, a resident of the building where the shooting occurred, expressed disbelief that such violence could occur in his home.
The 50th Precinct had only one homicide in all of 2025, making the deadly domestic shooting particularly shocking for the community.
The names of the three people who were shot have not been released by authorities pending family notification and the ongoing investigation.
The investigation continues as detectives work to piece together the events that led to the deadly domestic incident in the early morning hours of January 22.