FOXBORO, MASS. (WHDH) - A Foxborough man who responded to a grandmother’s desperate call for help Thursday night says he’ll never forget the horrifying sight following a murder-suicide that claimed the life of a 6-year-old boy.
RELATED: Father murders young son, tries to torch home before killing self, DA says
Richard Shain frantically knocked on the front door of a home at 79 East Street and was ordered to call 911 as the murdered boy’s screaming grandmother told him what had happened.
“I was freaking out when I saw what appeared to be a body at the top of the stairs. I checked his pulse to see if he was still breathing,” Shain said.
Authorities says William Scaccia, 49, murdered his young son, Anthony, with a handgun before turning it on himself. They also say he tried to set the home on fire.
Shain says he knew right away that it was too late to save the boy, who hours earlier was seen outside playing in his yard.
“I literally just heard him laughing, playing and giggling in the backyard. I can’t even believe it,” Katelynn Broccoli said.
Broccoli says residents in the area were aware of a history of domestic violence between Scaccia and the boy’s mother.
“I guess they separated a couple of months ago, but he was crazy. I remember hearing him yelling over there and thinking man, that guy has problems,” Broccoli said.
Shain says the child’s mother was at work at the time of the murder-suicide. The boy’s grandmother had been asleep.
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)