A Murder-Suicide by Gracie Mansion

Shots rang out on a normally quiet Upper East Side block on the morning of July 26, just steps from Gracie Mansion. The frightening event occurred around 9 a.m. on East 88th between York and East End avenues.

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Initial reports detailed only two female victims in unknown conditions. By 10 a.m., the block was cordoned off by police and both neighbors and media had started to congregate nearby.

An anonymous source originally told East Side Feed that they had witnessed what appeared to be a mother arguing with her adult daughter before the shooting occurred. Another neighbor who was outside when they heard the shots said that police officers stationed outside of Gracie Mansion “didn’t move” and were slow to respond at the sound of gunfire.

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Details of the incident were shared in an NYPD press conference around noon, though they were still preliminary and the investigation remains ongoing.

Police say the shooting took place outside of 519 East 88th Street and is being classified as a “murder suicide.”

The younger victim was identified as 45-year-old Marissa Galloway, a resident of 445 East 86th Street, a full-service co-op building between First and York avenues. (Public records also show a previous address at 180 East 79th Street.) The shooter has been identified at 65-year-old Kathleen Lee, a Chicago resident and the grandmother of Marissa Galloway’s 4-year-old son.

As seen on surveillance video, Ms. Galloway put her child into a white Honda Civic parked on the north side of the block and was placing a stroller into the trunk when Ms. Lee approached. Ms. Lee shot her first in the head and then, when she was on the ground, in the back. Ms. Lee then shot herself in the head. A one-year-old child was recovered from the backseat of the car unharmed.

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Police say the two women had been in an ongoing custody dispute over Ms. Galloway’s 4-year-old son, and that the NYPD had recorded several incidents related to the dispute–5 domestic reports and 2 complaints–none of which resulted in any arrests. Two guns were recovered from the scene: the Glock 9mm used in the shooting, which was found on the sidewalk near Ms. Lee; and another firearm found in a tote bag Ms. Lee had been carrying.

Kathleen Lee was transported to Cornell hospital but did not survive her injuries. Lee was a retired Cook County, Illinois probation officer, though it seems that she had been living with relatives in the New York for the past three years.

The incident has rattled the residential Yorkville neighborhood, with many wondering how something like this could happen here.