On Friday, the only sign that a crime had been committed at
this home was a Wallkill Town Police vehicle parked on
the side of the building
TOWN OF WALLKILL – The man, who shot and killed his two children
before turning his .45 caliber pistol on himself was identified Friday
by State Police as 48-year-old John Casullo, former Newburgh town police
officer who retired on a disability.
Troopers said he shot James, 8, and Kathleen, 12, each once in the head
before he shot himself in the head.
When police got to their mobile home at 559 Fifth Avenue off Route 211
in the Town of Wallkill around 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, they found all three
bodies in their bed. The children’s father had shot each child to
death while they were sleeping in their beds before killing himself.
No one else was in the home at the time of the incident. Casullo’s
wife apparently found the bodies when she came home.
State Police and Wallkill Town Police investigated the murder/suicide.
Casullo’s start date with the Newburgh Town Police was in August
1989 and his official date of retirement was in 2008. But, Town Police
Chief Bruce Campbell said Casullo was out on disability for years before
he actually left the force.
