FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (WHDH) – A Foxborough neighbor who responded to a grandmother’s desperate call for help Thursday night said he will never forget the horrifying sight following a murder-suicide that claimed the life of a 6-year-old boy.
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Richard Shain said he frantically knocked on the front door of a home at 79 East St. 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,” said Shain.
Police said William Scaccia, 49, murdered his son Anthony with a handgun before turning it on himself. They also said he tried to set the home on fire.
Shain said he knew right away that it was too late for 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,” said Katelynn Broccoli.
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,” said Broccoli.
Shain said the child’s mother was at work at the time of the murder-suicide. The boy’s grandmother had been asleep.
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