Police Officer's 2002 Toms River Murder Spree Subject Of TV Documentary

TOMS RIVER, NJ -- It was a rampage that rattled Ocean County to the core. Five people killed, a police chief shot, a man on the run for 12 hours, and a suicide to end it.

The murders of five of his neighbors and the shooting of his boss by Seaside Heights Police Officer Edward Lutes Jr. in Toms River in the spring of 2002 -- on the heels of one just a couple of months prior where another Toms River man, retired police officer John Mabie, killed four people -- left Toms River and the community at large grasping for understanding.

Now, 14 years after those killings, the story of Lutes' killing spree is the focus of an Investigation Discovery episode, "Fear Thy Neighbor: Daddy's Got A Gun."

Al Della Fave, spokesman for the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office, said the episode includes interviews with Capts. Joseph Mitchell and Vincent Frulio of the prosecutor's office, recapping details of their investigation.

A New York Times report of the murders said Lutes killed Dominick J. Galliano Jr., 51; his wife, Gail Galliano, 51; and the Gallianos' son, Christopher, 25; as well as Gary Williams, 48, and Tina Williams, 46, who were Lutes' neighbors. Lutes then drove from Toms River to Barnegat and shot James Costello, who was the Seaside Heights police chief and Lutes' boss.

Lutes, who was sought for 12 hours, killed himself in the driveway of a Barnegat home where he apparently just pulled into and stopped, police said at the time.

The apparent motive for the murders was Lutes' rage over a jury's acquittal of Dominick Galliano on charges he had molested Lutes' 9-year-old daughter. Lutes' fiancee had been killed a year earlier in a car-school bus collision, which apparently added to his stress, reports said at the time.

The two shooting sprees led to discussions of mental health issues among law enforcement officers and ways of making sure they had access to treatment for the job stress.

The documentary airs again at 1 a.m. Friday and at noon on Saturday, May 14, according to the Investigation Discovery website.

See the trailer below: