In a deadly custody battle over a 4-year-old girl, a retired woman from Chicago shot and killed the mother of her grandson in a fancy New York City neighborhood just steps from the mayor’s house, police said Friday. Then she killed herself while a baby in a car seat was just a few steps away.
Friday morning, the NYPD said that 46-year-old Marisa Galloway had been shot in the head and back on a street in Manhattan by her 66-year-old grandma, Kathleen Leigh. Galloway lost her 4-year-old child.
“The video we have shows Ms. Galloway putting the child in the back seat of the car.” “Ms. Leigh then approaches her while she’s putting the stroller in the trunk and shoots her in the head and back when she’s on the ground,” NYPD Chief Joseph Kenny told reporters.
It has been confirmed that the woman who was killed and then killed herself on New York City’s Upper East Side was a schoolteacher and former track and field coach at nearby Fordham University, where she finished in 2001.
About a block away from where Mayor Eric Adams lives in Gracie Mansion, police found two guns at the scene of the crime. After she shot herself, Leigh dropped one of them, and cops found the other one in a tote bag.
Their other child, a 1-year-old, was found alive in the back of a closed car. She has nothing to do with Leigh.
Police say that Galloway had just put the child in a car seat when Leigh walked up and started shooting, which can be seen on CCTV video. After that, Leigh killed herself.
Police said during a morning news meeting that Galloway and her killer had a history of domestic disputes that were likely caused by disagreements over who would care for their 4-year-old child.
It had been five reports and two complaints to the NYPD, but no one had been arrested.
The 4-year-old’s dad is Leigh’s son Kenny Leigh.
A former probation officer from Chicago was the killer. He lived on North Park Avenue in the Windy City until he moved to New York City three years ago, cops said.
When police arrived, they found both women with gunshot wounds to their heads.
Galloway was taken to the hospital by paramedics, but she died there from her injuries.
Galloway used to play sports in college and now volunteers at the school where she went to school.
“The Fordham University community is deeply saddened by the tragic death of Marisa Galloway, a Fordham alumna who served as a volunteer assistant track and field coach at Fordham for 17 years until 2019,” a school rep told Fox News Digital.
Fordham College at Rose Hill gave Galloway a bachelor of arts degree in 2001. Four years later, the school said, he got a master’s degree in science from the Fordham Graduate School of Education.
“During her time at Fordham, she competed in the high jump for the Rams. She also ran in sprints and on relay teams.” “She finished her senior year of high school by coming in third place at the Metropolitan Championships in the high jump,” the statement said. “We keep Marissa and her loved ones in our thoughts and prayers.”
