The terminally ill retired probation officer who shot her former daughter-in-law as she was loading her baby into a car on the Upper East Side before taking her own life had a mysterious note in her pocket when she died. The note had the words, "For Police" written on it, a source told the New York Post.
According to the police, 65-year-old Kathleen Leigh shot and killed her former daughter-in-law, 45-year-old Marisa Galloway, in New York City during a contentious custody battle. Galloway was putting her one-year-old daughter into her car during a custody exchange when Leigh shot her in the head and back before turning the gun on herself.
Mysterious Note in Pocket
The contents of the note were not immediately made clear. Galloway, a mother of two, had just placed her 1-year-old daughter into the backseat of a parked white Honda Civic during a custody exchange when Leigh shot her in the head and back, according to police.
Leigh then killed herself. The baby was unharmed in the shooting.
Galloway, a special education teacher, was involved in a custody dispute over her 4-year-old daughter with Leigh's son.
Leigh, a 65-year-old retired probation officer from Cook County, Illinois, was battling terminal cancer and living with her son on East 79th Street while undergoing treatment.
Leigh's daughter declined to comment when contacted by The New York Post on Saturday.
The grandmother often told neighbors that Galloway was abusing the 4-year-old girl, a claim that conflicted with descriptions from Galloway's neighbors, who saw her as a caring and loving mother.
"She was so wonderful, and she loved her kids," one resident of Galloway's East 86th Street apartment building tearfully told The Post.
Between July and November 2021, police filed five domestic incident reports involving Galloway and her ex. According to sources, the father claimed in several reports that his daughter returned home with bruises.
Bitter Battle Resulting in Two Deaths
Two of the reports resulted in complaints to the Administration for Children's Services but were later determined to be unfounded, according to sources. After their separation, the two shared custody, with the father having custody from Friday through Monday and Galloway having their daughter for the rest of the week, sources said.
According to NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny, security footage showed that Leigh shot Galloway once after she had loaded her younger daughter and a stroller into the car, fired another shot into her back while Galloway lay on the ground, and then shot herself in the head.
Witnesses and sources said that Galloway was found slumped near the car's rear, covered in blood but still breathing, while Leigh lay on the ground nearby. Two handguns were recovered at the scene.
Leigh was pronounced dead at the scene. Galloway was taken to Weill Cornell Medical Center, where doctors declared her dead on arrival, according to Kenny.
