Bronxville cop killed family, self at their New City home, police say

NEW CITY - A veteran Bronxville police sergeant is believed to have killed his wife and two young boys before killing himself, Clarkstown police said Saturday.

Officers found the four bodies with gunshot wounds at about 12:20 a.m. Saturday inside 10 Clydesdale Court, Detective Norman Peters said in a statement.

The officers were sent to the house to check on Watson Morgan when he had not reported to work on Friday night. The Bronxville Police Department called the Clarkstown Police Department to conduct a welfare check.

Police identified the dead as Morgan, 49, his wife Ornela, 43, and their two sons, ages 10 and 12. They were pronounced dead at the scene. The Rockland Medical Examiner's Office will conduct autopsies.

Police are still investigating the deaths, said Peters, the department's public information officer. Peters said this was an isolated incident and the public is not in any danger.

"At this phase of the investigation it is believed that Morgan killed his wife and two children, prior to killing himself with a self-inflicted gunshot wound," Peters said.

Morgan apparently was going to retire after 15 years with Bronxville. He started with the NYPD in 2000 and joined the Bronxville Department in 2007, according to a statement released by Police Chief Christopher Satriale.

Morgan had been assigned to the detective division in 2014 and promoted to sergeant in 2016. He was a certified New York State youth officer.

Morgan had become the department’s technical expert, managing license plate reader data and camera data, the Bronxville news site, My Hometown, wrote quoting Satriale.

Morgan graduated from Dominican College with a degree in social sciences and received teacher certification, My Hometown reported.

Satriale said the department would stand by its statement and offer no additional comment. The department issued the release "with profoundly broken hearts at the senseless loss of innocent lives."

"Our hearts go out to Sergeant Morgan's extended family," the department's release said. "Our thoughts and prayers are also with the Bronxville Police Department family."

Clarkstown Supervisor George Hoehmann said Saturday that the officers who found the bodies will undergo treatment for any trauma.

“It s terrible tragedy, "Hoehmann said. "We've been in communication with Clarkstown School District."

Clarkstown schools will have counseling for the students in the aftermath of the deaths, Schools Superintendent Marc Baiocco said in an email to district residents.

"The news of this tragedy will be widespread," he wrote. "We encourage you to talk with your child as death impacts each of us in different ways. How children and teens react depends on the relationship they had with the people who died, their age and prior experience with death."

"Even if your child did not know the victims, hearing about this unthinkable situation can trigger feelings of sadness, fear and anger," Baiocco said. "Any reaction is normal in the grief process."

Laurel Plains Elementary School and Felix Festa Middle School will open Sunday, Dec. 31, from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. for students, families and staff to seek emotional support, the district said. Trained student assistance counselors and psychologists will be available at both locations.

The district's student support team will be in each school building on Tuesday, Baiocco wrote. The team includes counselors, social workers and psychologists, along with community mental health providers.

For those needing further support, Baiocco suggested:

• Call or text 988 for 24/7, confidential support to people in suicidal crisis or mental health-related distress

• Contact the Rockland County Behavioral Health Response Team for mobile behavioral health services, 24/7.

Rockland County Executive Ed Day, a retired NYPD officer, offered his condolences.

“As we try to make sense of this unimaginable tragedy our hearts break for the family involved in this devastating murder-suicide in Clarkstown," Day said. "On behalf of the people of Rockland, I send my prayers and deepest condolences to family, friends, and fellow officers of the victims, along with the entire Town of Clarkstown."

Steve Lieberman covers government, breaking news, courts, police, and investigations. Reach him at slieberm@lohud.com Twitter: @lohudlegal

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This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: New City family of four found dead in murder-suicide, police say