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Mother and her two daughters slain in apparent Brooklyn murder-suicide

Photo Apr 06, 6 29 05 AM
Police outside the Van Dyke Houses on April 6, 2021 as an investigation into a murder-suicide there continues.
Photo by Lloyd Mitchell

Detectives in Brooklyn are looking to find out what led a 46-year-old man to shoot his female companion and her two daughters dead inside their apartment before taking his own life on Monday night.

Law enforcement sources said the massacre happened just before 11:22 p.m. on April 5 inside a fourth-floor apartment within the Van Dyke Houses at 362 Sutter Ave. in Brownsville.

Officers from the 73rd Precinct and NYPD PSA 2 made the horrific discovery while responding to a 911 call regarding shots fired at the location.

Upon entering the apartment, cops discovered the three victims — Rasheeda Barzey, 45, and her two daughters, Solei Spears, 20, and Chloe Spears, 16 — each with gunshot wounds to their heads.

Responding EMS units pronounced all of them dead at the scene. 

Police outside the Van Dyke Houses on April 6, 2021 as an investigation into a murder-suicide there continues.Photo by Lloyd Mitchell

While responding to the murders, police then received a 911 call about a male shot in the area of Mother Gaston Boulevard and Sutter Avenue, right around the corner from the crime scene.

Officers then discovered the apparent suspect — Joseph McCrimon, 46, of Mount Vernon — lying in a walkway just off of Mother Gaston Boulevard with a gunshot wound to his head. EMS units pronounced him dead at the scene.

During an investigation, police learned that McCrimon was Barzey’s female companion, and it’s believed that he fatally shot her and her two daughters inside their residence moments before turning the gun on himself in the walkway.

Cops also recovered a gun from inside the Sutter Avenue apartment where the three victims were found, and a firearm in the dead man’s possession.

At this point, detectives have not determined a motive for the bloodshed. The investigation remains ongoing.