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Queens Cop Shoots Baby and Boyfriend in Murder-Suicide, NYPD Says

By  Paul DeBenedetto Ben Fractenberg Theodore Parisienne and Nikhita Venugopal | April 15, 2013 10:42am | Updated on April 15, 2013 6:17pm

EAST FLATBUSH — An off-duty police officer shot her 1-year-old son and her boyfriend before turning the gun on herself at her home Monday morning, police said.

Rosette Samuel, 43, was found dead alongside the body of her baby son, in her bed at 805 East 56th St., in East Flatbush, Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said at the scene. The child, who was identified as Dylan, was shot in the chest, as was the mother, according to the Associated Press.

Her boyfriend, who was the father of the child, was found lying in the doorway, according to Browne. He was identified as Dason Peters, according to the Associated Press. The number and location of his wounds were not immediately available.

Samuel and her family lived on the first floor of the three-story home and the owner of the building lived on the two upper floors, neighbors said.

Samuel was assigned to the 108th Precinct in Queens and had been on the job for 13 years, Browne said. An officer at the 108th Precinct stationhouse said Samuel moved to that precinct several months ago from the NYPD's Manhattan Traffic Task Force. Sources said she was transferred after getting into trouble as part of the 2010 - 2011 ticket fixing scandal.

A 19-year-old son, Dondre Samuel, from Samuel's previous marriage was home at the time of the shooting, but escaped out a back window and called 911, according to Browne and the Daily News.

Samuel was a member of the Caribbean Law Enforcement Association, a nonprofit organization for Caribbean and Caribbean-American officers, according to a neighbor, who is also a member.

The man, who declined to give his name, said Samuel was from the island of Saint Vincent in the Caribbean and that her boyfriend was from Guyana.

Ionie Brownn-Johnson, 73, who has lived on the block for over thirty years, said she would often talk to Samuel about her child and see her walking with the baby on the street.

"She was very happy with the baby," said Brownn-Johnson.

"I am shaking," she said.