Rockland County community trying to come to grips with murder-suicide that took local family
CLARKSTOWN, N.Y. -- Counseling and prayer services are scheduled this week in a grieving Rockland County community, where a troubled man died by suicide after killing his wife and their two sons.
Friends and neighbors are trying to coming to grips with the family tragedy.
"I pray for their friends, their school friends, so many people that had such high regards for this family," neighbor Dorothy Cunningham said.
Cunningham taught Gabriel and Liam Morgan Catholic catechism at their local parish. On Tuesday, she prayed at the memorial outside the family home. Photos show the boys enjoying happy moments with mom, Ornela.
Missing were any pictures of Watson Morgan, the Bronxville police sergeant who died by suicide after shooting and killing his family Friday evening.
"I have not heard one negative thing about this family, so it's just incomprehensible, really," Cunningham said.
Neighbors said the family seemed loving and stable. The boys played sports and took part in scouting.
Classmates and staff returned from holiday break with counselors in school to offer comfort and guidance.
"This will be a long healing process for us. As you would imagine, this is the deepest sense of grieving that a school community could possibly have," Clarkstown Central School District Superintendent Marc Baiocco said.
Police are examining Winston Morgan's private and professional lives, trying to understand what preceded the murder-suicide.
At a time of grief, people often feel comfort coming together with others feeling the same pain. The Morgan family's church, St. Francis of Assisi, will host a prayer service on Tuesday at 8 p.m., and there will be a community-wide candlelight vigil at Germonds Park on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
Ornela Morgan taught at a middle school in the Bronx. The city's Department of Education is providing counselors for her students and colleagues.
