A father visiting his child during Family Weekend at upstate Marist College was shot and killed when bullets flew in the lobby of the local Courtyard Marriott where he was staying, authorities announced on Monday, October 3.
According to the local NBC-TV affiliate, two men with gang ties were nabbed in the shooting. Police said they found a "ghost gun" rifle and bomb-making materials in the suspects' room at the Poughkeepsie hotel.
A senior law enforcement official told the media outlet that the deadly violence started after one of the suspects got into a heated argument with hotel workers and others when he went down around 7:30 a.m. on Sunday to the lobby to get some coffee.
Innocent dad shot dead in the mayhem
The source said the gunman had a 30-round, high-capacity magazine on him at the time. The father of the Marist student was in the wrong place at the wrong time as he was shot dead in the mayhem. The victim was not immediately identified.
A Marist spokesman said in a statement obtained by the New York Post that authorities made them aware of the tragic, fatal shooting of a parent of a Marist student at a local hotel several miles from campus yesterday morning.
The spokesman added that their deepest condolences go out to the family, and they are offering the full support of the Marist community. They remain in contact with local authorities and will inform their community of updates.
The shooting came as the school celebrated Family Weekend, wherein Marist students were encouraged to invite their families for entertainment, sports, and other activities.
Explosives and a manual on making bombs found in suspects' room
According to police, investigators found materials that could be used as explosives during a hotel search after the shooting and manuals on how to make bombs in the suspects' room. Authorities said it is still unclear what the suspects might have been planning to do with those materials.
A senior official told NBC that the two men had been smoking a PCP-like substance in their room before the shooting. The outlet said that Devin Taylor was a suspect in a previous murder case tied to a robbery, although no further details were immediately available regarding his involvement. The other suspect in the case was identified as Roy Johnson Jr.
Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro issued a statement to WCBS, saying that the two individuals in custody are known to law enforcement. He said that the suspects had no association with the student's parent that they are aware of, and they do not believe what happened was affiliated or associated with activities at Marist.
