.png)
NY suspect killed: The prime suspect in a rash of fatal shootings in an upstate NY town was killed Thursday. Residents were not sure what to think.
The prime suspect in the shooting deaths of four people yesterday in a upstate New York village was killed on Thursday during a shootout with police, but residents were concerned over how a local could go on a such a violent shooting spree in their community.
Kurt Meyers, 64, was shot and killed in Herkimer after a 20-hour standoff with police. He opened fire on a police canine unit around 8 a.m., killing a dog. This prompted police to fire back, leaving him dead.
However, many local residents were left perplexed as to how Meyers, described as a loner, could go on the alleged shooting spree, killing four and wounding two in the middle of the day. Meyers also was suspected of burning down his home, where police found a cache of weapons, according to reports on Wednesday.
[Related: Herkimer Murder Suspect Shot Dead in Police Shootout]
Meyers allegedly entered a barbershop and opened fire with a shotgun, leaving two dead. He also purportedly shot several other people in another location.
“This kind of thing just doesn’t happen,” Mathew Hisert, who lives near the barbershop, told the Times-Union. “It’s scary.”
Ellen Smith, a local resident, said that “whatever the motive, it just isn’t right. There’s no reason.”
Local Marc Abdallah, who lived in Tampa, Fla. for a while, expressed similar sentiments.
“I have seen nothing like this … a massacre,” he said.
The barbershop’s owner, John Seymour, told his sister, Mary Hornett, about the incident.
“He just said that the guys were in the barbershop and this guy comes in and he says, ‘Hi, John, do you remember me?’ and my brother said, ‘Yes, Kurt, how are you?’ and then he just started shooting,” Hornett told The Associated Press.
In the standoff, Meyers holed up in a building for around 19 hours, with police trying to flush him out with gas. Police were forced to maintain their guard throughout the night, reported NBC News.
Nicole Dillon saw the shooting at the barbershop and said the man appeared not to be in any hurry.
“We saw a guy walking around the shop,” Dillon told WKTV. “There were two shots fired. We watched him reload the gun. He was walking around. We watched him shoot the one guy, then he went into the shop and shot the other guy.”
Police officials described the shootings as unprovoked and seemingly random.
“This morning, law enforcement officials entered the building and, after being fired upon, shot and killed the suspect, Kurt Myers,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement. “There were no injuries to local law enforcement officials, though an FBI police dog was fatally shot.”
The Epoch Times publishes in 35 countries and in 21 languages. Subscribe to our e-newsletter.
