Prosecutors said a man in Pennsylvania shot and killed a couple in a murder-suicide in a snow removal dispute on Monday, the same day that a major winter storm threw more than a foot of snow into parts of the Northeast.
Jeffrey Spaide shot dead his neighbors, James Goy and his wife, Lisa Goy, before committing suicide on Monday morning, when officers were called to West Bergh Street in Plains Township, about 15 miles southwest of Scranton, according to the Luzerne County Public Prosecutor’s Office.
District prosecutor Stefanie Salavantis said on Tuesday that the office determined that no other suspects were involved and considered the incident a murder-suicide. Salavantis said the office will close the case pending a report from the Coroner’s Office in County Luzerne.
Just before 9 am on Monday, police responded to a report of gunshots when they found the bodies of the Goys in the street, prosecutors said. Police officers said they later heard gunfire from Spaide’s home. Subsequently, the authorities determined that it was a self-inflicted gunshot wound, prosecutors said.
Surveillance video revealed that Spaide and the Goys were involved in disputes before the deadly encounter, prosecutors said.
The video shows that the Goys cleared snow from their parking spaces, pushed across the street and played on Spaide’s property. After Spaide asked the couple to stop throwing snow on their property, the neighbors started an argument where they appear to have exchanged obscene gestures and profanity.
Prosecutors said James Goy threatened Spaide and raised his fist, causing Spaide to retire to his home and return outside with a pistol.
Although the Goys recognized that he had a gun, prosecutors said they continued to shout names at him in the middle of the street. Spaide opened fire and shot the Goys before returning to his home to pick up another weapon to deal with the deadly blow, according to prosecutors.
After killing his neighbors, Spaide returned to his home, where he shot himself when police stopped at the scene, prosecutors said.
The Luzerne County District Attorney’s Office, the Luzerne County Coroner, Plains County Police, Plains County Fire and Ambulance and the Pennsylvania State Police Forensic Services Unit were all involved in the investigation.
These three deaths came in addition to four others in the wake of the deadly winter storm that suspended flights, cut electricity and closed schools and vaccination sites for Covid-19 across the Northeast.
In Allentown, Pennsylvania, a 67-year-old woman with Alzheimer’s disease died of hypothermia after moving away from her home, NBC Philadelphia reported. His body was found four blocks away on Monday morning.
In Adamstown, Maryland, a 64-year-old man died after a recycling service truck he was driving overturned on an icy road around noon on Monday, said the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office.
And two people – a 69-year-old woman and a 42-year-old woman – died in Pennsylvania in separate incidents on Sunday, state police said. The 42-year-old woman died in an accident during the snowstorm in Tioga County, and the other 69-year-old woman fell in slippery conditions during the snow in Bucks County.
