Crime & Safety

Neighbors React to E. Northport, St. James Murder-Suicide

Most are mum, some say they're shocked and feel unsafe.

Residents of Loret Lane in East Northport are rattled after James Schultz, 31, shot himself in his parent's home after allegedly stabbing the mother of his child in St. James Monday morning.

"Last night I locked all my doors. It just makes you feel unsafe," said one neighbor. "I didn't know that the father was a hunter and has guns in the house."

Though the incident alarms her now, the woman said that the Schultz family-- a working librarian wife, a retired husband, and their two sons-- are nice and have never been a source of trouble on the block. James Schultz never moved out of the house all his 31 years, his car with fancy yellow rims towed away after the discovery of his body on Monday.

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"I didn't think he'd ever be violent," the woman said. "I'm just mortified for them. Can you imagine living through this?"

Many residents arriving home from work declined to comment, saying that the family had been through enough. One man who has been living across the street from the Schultz' for 16 years simply said, "The parents are suffering."

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At the Schultz house, a middle-aged man with a drink in his hand opened the door and abruptly closed it without a word as others could be heard talking inside.

Though report that Schultz' 13-month old son with slain 23-year-old St. James resident Katherine Farrell is in the custody of Child Protective Services, one neighbor said she saw his grandparents walking him around the nighborhood in a stroller last night.

In a Newsday report released Tuesday, Deacon V. Anthony Maggipinto of in St. James, who was preparing Farrell’s sister to be the godmother of her son, described the late mother as a “wonderful person who drew you in” and “sincere.”

Farrell's work supervisor William St. George, an administrator at the St. James Healthcare Center, also told Newsday that she was a devoted mother and favorite among other employees at the nursing home.

The family of Farrell was gathered outside of the home Monday night but declined to comment. No one was available at the home for comment Tuesday afternoon.

Police said officers responded to a call on Monday at 8:59 a.m. stating that Schultz was found dead in his home of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, with his son in another room of the house. Schultz reportedly picked his son up from the home of Farrell that morning to babysit him as he does three times a week.

According to police, officers tried to reach Farrell at work to notify her of the incident, only to find she had not reported to work. Officers then went to her home at 3 Hill Road at roughly 11:20 a.m. to find her stabbed to death.


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