Cops: Man Who Shot Parents Did So Over His 1-Year-Old Son

Dino Tomassetti, 29, faces 2 counts of attempted murder in Christmas incident on Long Island
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 27, 2021 12:28 PM CST
Updated Dec 30, 2021 8:16 AM CST
Cops: Son Shot Parents in Mansion Xmas Morning
Dino Tomassetti.   (Bergen County Sheriff)

Update: A Brooklyn man accused of shooting both of his parents in their Long Island home on Christmas morning was apparently angry over a custody issue, local police now say. Dino Tomassetti, 29, "wanted to take his 1-year-old away from his parents and the natural mother, which he did not have custody to," Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said Wednesday, per CBS New York. "That's when the argument started." Per court papers, Tomassetti also "repeatedly bashed his father in the head" with his weapon after he'd shot the 65-year-old and his 64-year-old mother, reports the New York Daily News. Tomassetti has been extradited from New Jersey, where he was apprehended by authorities, to Long Island on Wednesday. He faces two charges of attempted murder, for which defense attorneys say he'll enter pleas of not guilty. The infant boy is now said to be in the custody of his mother. Our original story from Monday follows:

A Brooklyn man spent part of Christmas Day on the run after shooting his parents at their Long Island mansion, police say. Dino Tomassetti was arrested in New Jersey around 2pm Saturday after police used GPS to track his SUV, the Daily Voice reports. Sources tell the Voice that parents Rocco Tomassetti, 65, and Vincenza Marsicano-Tomassetti, 64, required surgery after the Saturday morning shooting. Nassau County police say Tomassetti shot his father in the back and his mother in the head around 10am at their home in Hewlett Harbor, reports the New York Daily News. Police say both victims were still conscious when they were hospitalized.

Tomassetti, who was taken into custody without incident, was charged with being a fugitive from justice and is being held in the Bergen County Jail pending extradition to New York. No motive for the shooting has been disclosed. The New York Post reports that the family has long been a major player in the construction industry. Rocco Tomassetti owns a Brooklyn-based cement company and his late father, Dino Tomassetti Sr., owned the Laquila Group construction chain, which was indicted in 1987 over an alleged waste disposal scheme linked to organized crime. (More Long Island stories.)

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