Three people were killed in a shooting at Farmingville apartments in Long Island on Friday. Police are currently investigating the homicide to nab the shooters, who apparently forced their way in to the commit the crime.
The victims have been identified as Richard Castano (31), Diamond Schick (24) and Nyasia Knox (20). Reportedly, Castano and Schick were living together in the Fairfield South Apartment on Overlook Drive while Knox was from Georgia.
Police are yet to find if the victims were shot on Thursday or Friday. However, a toddler, less than a year old, and two dogs were also found inside the apartment unharmed. Family members and friends of the victims gathered outside the home with tears. The police responded to the crime around noon after a 911 call.
"The call came from a relative of one of the residents inside the home. He had come to check on them and suspected they were dead inside the house," Suffolk County homicide Detective Lt. Kevin Beyrer said during a press briefing held near the triple homicide scene in Farmingville, Long Island.
He further added that the victims were shot and there were signs of forced entry.
Anayah Nesbitt, 25, of West Hempstead said that her best friend Schick, who ran a daycare with her mother, had sent her pictures of her wedding dress as she was about to get married to Castano.
"She was like my sister. She was very smart and cared about everybody and not into negative things," Nesbitt said.
"The fact that something negative intervened with what she had going on, now I can't grow with her as her sister and best friend."
The Suffolk County homicide came to light around noon on July 23. With the shooter or shooters still not caught, police are yet to find out if the attack on the victims was random or targeted.
However, reports say that a police source told media the triple-slaying might have been drug-related. According to reports, the weekly murder tally in Suffolk County has increased to seven with this gruesome killing.
Meanwhile, neighbors across the townhouse community said that they are alarmed by the horrific incident. The Farmingville Apartments is owned by Fairfield Properties situated in Fairfield Hills South where homes are rented starting at $3,000 per month. The complex has a gated front entrance, but neighbors complained that the gates are rarely locked at night with cars moving in and out.
"We've been concerned. The neighbors, they are supposed to be putting the gates down every night. We find that they are not putting them down," a woman living nearby said.
