By Patrick Hedlund
DNAinfo News Editor
MANHATTAN — A Pennsylvania SWAT team killed the man suspected of murdering an East Village man and a 2-year-old boy over the weekend, authorities said.
Mark Richard Geisenheyner was shot to death during a standoff with a SWAT team in southeastern Pennsylvania Monday afternoon, days after allegedly killing Joseph Shay, 43, and 2-year-old Gregory Bosco, whose mother was reportedly dating Shay.
Bosco's mother, Kathryn Erdmann, 37, was shot in the head and remains in critical condition. Shay's uncle Paul Shay, 64, and aunt Monica Shay, 58, of the East Village, were also shot but were able to speak with investigators despite their injuries, according to the Montgomery County District Attorney.
Early Monday SWAT units surrounded a home in Trainer, Pa., about 60 miles south of the where the shooting occurred Saturday, where they found Geisenheyner armed and unwilling to surrender, the DA's office said.
Authorities finally entered the home after a six-hour standoff and shot Geisenheyner to death in the basement, the DA's office added. The medical examiner ruled him dead at the scene.
Geisenheyner was reportedly angry with Paul Shay because of an insurance scam involving Shay's home in 2006, the Wall Street Journal reported.
"Guess you never thought you'd see me again," Geisenheyner allegedly said before opening fire, the Journal reported.
Sources said Geisenheyner was charged with receiving stolen property for having a painting of Paul Shay's that Shay filed an insurance claim for after it went missing, the Deleware County Daily Times reported.
Geisenheyner, who was later incarcerated on the charge, was reportedly supposed to receive money from Paul Shay as part of the scheme.
He allegedly spoke of getting revenge on Paul Shay and canvassed the family's Bechtelsville, Pa., home for three months prior to the shooting, the Daily Times added.
However, a friend and former employee of Paul Shay said Monday he did not believe the 64-year-old was involved in insurance fraud.
"Good people get hurt," said Luis Roldan, 33, who has known Shay for nearly 15 years and stopped by the family's East 10th Street home Monday to place flowers at the door.
"I couldn't see Paul in any kind of scheme like that," he added.
A longtime neighbor of the Shays said Paul and Monica Shay had been letting their nephew Joseph Shay stay with them the past couple years.
Paul had been employing Joseph at his plumbing company and allowed him to stay at the couple's apartment between First Avenue and Avenue A, which Paul had been living in for at least 15 years, the neighbor added.
"He took him in and gave him work," said Dan Hoyt, 48, who co-owns the restaurant Quintessence next door to Shays' apartment and also lives a couple doors down. "He was with him all the time."
Monica Shay is an associate proefessor at the Pratt Institute.
Pennsylvania media reported that Joseph Shay had a criminal record, including a grand a larceny charge in New York dating back to 2008.
Hoyt said Paul was known to employ ex-cons at his company, adding that Joseph had recently been released from prison.
The neighbor described Joseph Shay as a "good guy," who he often saw around the neighborhood.
"He was a very happy-go-lucky guy," Hoyt said, "always cheerful."
