Sunday, July 3, 2011

East Village residents victims in Pennsylvania shooting

[Candlelight this evening on East 10th Street, where Paul and Monica Shay live]

News is coming in this evening about a horrific shooting in Pennsylvania involving East Village residents.

According to the Daily News in an article posted at 9 p.m.:

A Manhattan man and a 2-year-old boy were shot to death in a Pennsylvania bloodbath that left two other New Yorkers and the tot's mother clinging to life.

All five victims were shot in the head Saturday night, and cops have mounted a manhunt for the gunman.

The murders happened at the country home of plumber Paul Shay, 64, and his professor wife, Monica Shay, 58, longtime residents of E. 10th St. in Manhattan.

Their nephew, Joseph Shay, 43, was killed in the shooting in rural Bechtelsville, about 100 miles from New York City.

His girlfriend, Kathryn Erdmann, 37, of Fall River, Mass., was also critically wounded - and her young son, Gregory, was killed.

More on this as details become available...

PS
Thanks to EV Grieve reader Vash for alerting us to the story in the first place...

12 comments:

Ryan@10th and B said...

Pennsylvania is cropping up in the news for all the wrong reasons lately. Last week, 100 teenagers ran around Philadelphia brutally beating random people on the streets. Now, it appears 5 people have been executed by some crazed gunman. You have to pick your poison in that state: the rural areas (sometimes referred to a "Pennsyl-tucky") are crammed with gun nuts at the behest of the State's overly permissive gun laws. By contrast, Philadelphia is a city that has been steeped in gang violence and seems on the edge of a veritable class/race war. The murder rate, while it has been dropping since it's obscene peak around 2007, is a complete disgrace. I live here in the EV but all my family is from Philly, and it really pisses me off how awfully the State mismanages the violence by bowing to conservative morons living in the boondocks who want to brandish rifles from their pick-up trucks.

john penley said...

This news has me in shock. I knew Paul Shay for many years and he was a very nice guy. He did plumbing work for the squatters and was involved with helping and organizing the TSP political element of tent city. He was also involved with the Revolutionary Communist party for a long time. DAMN THE SOB THAT DID THIS !!!!

Ken from Ken's Kitchen said...

Geez, some people just love to jump to conclusions.

Ryan@10th and B, please read the Daily News article. Cops say the nephew was the target, that he'd fallen on "hard times," lived in the EV with the Shays, and had a criminal record (for grand larceny in NY). Cops think the shootings have something to do with that. I could give two shits about PA, but the fact that this horrible crime happened there likely has absolutely nothing to do with PA, or race/class war, or Philly gangs. For all we know, the shooter could have been a NYer with a gun purchased in VA.

So sad for another EV family.

Anonymous said...

It's looking like the nephew wasn't the target, Paul was.

Apparently Paul and the shooter ran an insurance scam together and the shooter ended up not getting paid and going to jail. He came back for revenge. The Montgomery County DA goes into some detail in this article:

...Prior to his [Geisenheyner's] 2006 arrest, investigators in Douglass...were investigating an arson at the Shay residence... Paul Shay told police several items were missing from his residence. Shay filed an insurance claim for those items, including a painting, and it was later determined that Geisenheyner was in possession of that painting, according to sources.

Geisenheyner was charged with receiving stolen property in North Coventry Township, Chester County, for possessing the painting, and he was incarcerated. Sources say he was initially supposed to get a payout from Paul Shay for the insurance scam and became angry with Paul Shay.

After his release from prison, Geisenheyner allegedly spoke of getting revenge against Paul Shay and talked of burglarizing Shay’s Renninger Road residence, or even injuring or killing him, according to sources....

http://www.pottsmerc.com/articles/2011/07/04/news/doc4e11dc79e3579873743780.txt

Ryan @ 10th and B said...

Ken-

You might want to try reading my post before jumping to your own conclusion. These murders occurred over 100 miles away from Philly. So while I discussed something going on in Philadelphia, the post dealt with the state at large. So, no, I did not suggest this shooting has anything to do with the flash mobs of teenagers running around robbing stores and beating people. Also, do you really think that shooting 5 people (including a 2 year old) in the head is a commensurate response to theft? Drug deal gone bad? Regardless of motive, this person is obviously a psycho/sociopath, and thus qualifies as "crazed" in my book. Also, If you don't care about the state, why bother criticizing a legitimate post calling for reform in the PA gun laws? You seem to be one of those people who comes on comment forums for the sole purpose of being disagreeable. Have fun with that.

Anonymous said...

They found the shooter:

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20110704da_suspect_in_pennsylvania_rampage_killed_by_swat_team/srvc=home&position=recent

Frisbie said...

As a student of Monica Shay's you both should be ashamed of how you commented on this post. If you knew either Paul or Monica, you would know that they were all about social equality, fairness, and justice.

This wasn't a random act of murder or attempted murder; it was cold and calculated, and for anyone to try and spin this any other way is down right disrespectful. They didn't put people in boxes - as you both are doing. Put away your petty political views and assumptions and recognize this as a major loss to MANY communities for a variety.

With this said, if you are able to put away your petty differences and opinions, there is a vigil being held for the Shay Family tomorrow, July 5. I invite you to attend if you want to witness first hand the many lives that all of the victims touched.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=143143042429369

Anonymous said...

If you are referring to Paul's possible involvement in an insurance scam that involved the shooter, well, it's the Montgomery County DA making those claims. It's not exactly a political view or an assumption or spin or whatever. It is what it is: a claim by the DA about the shooter's motive. I suspect she has some evidence to back up that claim but, of course, for now, it's just the DA's point of view.

That said, yes, this shooting was a terrible tragedy all around and, yes, it affects may people and communities and, yes, the person responsible, in the end, is the shooter. (And presumably, even his death was a tragedy for his family and friends, and perhaps even citizens who believe the state should go to greater lengths than 6 hours and a SWAT team to apprehend a suspect instead of shooting him.)

Sigh. Life is messy. Even tragedies as horrible and, well, evil as this one have their peculiarities.

Thank you for posting the information about the October 22nd Coalition vigil for Paul and Monica.

Ryan @ 10th and B said...

I recognize this as a crushing loss for our community and a heinous act by a man who deserved to rot in prison for the rest of his life. Death was the easy way out. He should have spent the rest of his life in solitary confinement reliving the moments that led him to his confinement. But just because I didn't know someone who died doesn't mean I can't comment on the overly permissive firearms laws that were at least in part to blame for their outrageous and tragic death. My family is from all over that state and I don't want to hear about some maniac with a grudge murdering them with, not one, but two firearms. Luckily, our state throws people in jail for even trying to posses a firearm, and the gun violence here is dwarfed by the much less populous city of Philadelphia. Those of us not racked by the grief of losing a person who was a part of our lives could use this moment to show a moronic, pandering legislature the err of their ways. I have no shame about how I reacted to this news story, because I would love nothing more than for crimes like this to be much more difficult to perpetrate in every jurisdiction throughout the country. I'm sorry for your loss, and I hope further losses of this manner can be prevented in the future.

Anonymous said...

blinding oneself to human nature, just because someone had atavistic qualities and paralell political sympathies is the essence of ignorance. so he was a communist...so he did plumbing for squatters..... Viva la Revolution and all that sure..... he also committed insurance fraud and was gunned down when he stiffed his partner in the crime. Open your eyes, greed affects good communists and community activists too.... doesn't mean it was all the man was.... But it does mean he was human.

Frisbie said...

1) This tragedy has nothing to do with PA, NY, MA (especially Philly) - Example of use of politics within a confined political / geographical area. References to "Pennsyl-tucky" and having class/race wars - direct implications of random acts of violence related to gun laws. Which has it's merits, but nothing to do with this particular tragedy, as Ken points out. And that is the political spin I am referring to.

2) ;Geisenheyner was crazed. As I see it regardless of gun laws or not (set constitution aside) Mark Geisenheyner would have tried to kill Paul with or without a bullet & gun. Why he also targeted innocent bystanders, we will never know and can only make assumptions or gossip about. [PS. 5 people weren't executed by 2 guns. Joe and Gregory people were shot execution style (or point blank range). Paul and Kathryn were critically wounded but apparently have been able to respond to authorities - which again is according to media who like to spin things. Monica, as it has been reported from her brother has no hope for survival.

3) Like John Penly put it: "[Paul] did plumbing work for the squatters and was involved with helping and organizing the TSP political element of tent city. He was also involved with the Revolutionary Communist party for a long time. Monica was a staunch supporter against police brutality. These are direct political and social issues that are considered "controversial". Any of this information could have been found via a quick google (or facebook) of her name - research that obviously wasn't done by some of the posters in this forum, of which is about the East Village of New York City, not PA or MA. Nor is it about politics of gun control.

4) Also, Ryan, if you research at ALL what the Shay family is about you will learn that of all the people in the world, the last thing that any of them would want to see is that their tragedy has turned into another one - The family of Geisenheyner also has to mourn the loss. To add to this, I am sure that justice will prevail in the spirit of their social and political lives because they surrounded themselves with other people that seek justice. The irony of this specific incident is that the Shay's helped in the reformation of many individuals who had run-ins with the law(s), and had local authorities directly assisted Geisenheyner directly after his release, this may have all been avoided.

5) 10:33 Anonymous poster; I personally don't believe that there are not enough released details as to what exactly the the insurance fraud entails or if Paul was an accessory, etc. But you are are correct in saying that it was a human response to a human action, and regardless of one's role in public light, we are all flawed individuals.

pieman said...

i want the assailant to pay for this travesty!!! the revolution will deal w/it