3 Dead In Mount Vernon Murder-Suicide

MOUNT VERNON, NY — Mount Vernon police are investigating the deaths of three people assumed to have been a murder-suicide. Officials believe a man killed his wife and stepdaughter and then himself at a home on West 4th Street Sunday.

Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard called it a "devastating loss" on her Sunday evening program.

"We had a father who was under major duress take the life of his wife and his stepdaughter," Patterson-Howard said. "This has definitely sent our community reeling."

Kenneth Hamilton, the head of the school district, said on the show that grief counselors have reached out to the girl's schoolmates, classmates and teachers.

"Under normal circumstances this is a difficult thing to bear," Hamilton said. "On top of trying to get our students to cope with the effects of COVID-19 and their lives being disrupted, now to add this level of personal, intimate grief."

The student was a leader, he said. She reached out to him last week by email, asking if her class could meet with him on Zoom to talk about how distance learning was working.

"So it feels personal to me more than usual because I just had contact with her," he said.

Michel Richard Sylvain told The Journal News he was the brother of the shooter, whom police did not identify.