Friends defend slain Massapequa Park man

Anthony DiGeronimo called himself "Barbaric Warlord" in online social media sites and wrote that he was a Satanist and an anarchist.

Sunday, as more details emerged in the Saturday night police shooting that killed him and claimed the life of Nassau police officer Geoffrey J. Breitkopf, 40, friends posted notes of sympathy for DiGeronimo online. But others, even those who shared his fascination with Satanism, said DiGeronimo's behavior had recently taken a turn toward the bizarre.

"You could tell he was sinking into something dark," said James Weinmann, who attended high school with DiGeronimo and described himself as a Satanist.

Weinmann said Sunday that he remained in frequent contact with DiGeronimo on Facebook.

In recent online postings on Facebook and Vampire

Freaks.com, all indications were that DiGeronimo seemed only at peace when he was alone.

DiGeronimo, 21, wrote he was "currently relaxing on hiatus." He rarely left the house he shared with his parents because "I hate interacting with society," he wrote.

Weinmann said DiGeronimo had an "awesome knife collection," but said reading what DiGeronimo had posted recently had made him feel DiGeronimo was going over the edge.

"He got a little out of control," Weinmann said. "He loved anarchy, so he was doing his thing out there and things went too far."

Nassau police said DiGeronimo climbed onto a neighbor's car Saturday night dressed all in black and wearing a "half mask," officials said.

Police later shot DiGeronimo in his house after, they said, he lunged at officers while brandishing a knife and with other knives strapped to his body.

In his profile on various social media sites, DiGeronimo wrote that he enjoyed reading about Satanism, sadomasochism, the occult and "Magick in general."

"I've been told my views are somewhat twisted," he wrote.

Jason Barkan, who said he went to high school with DiGeronimo but hadn't seen him recently, described him as a "loner" in school but he and his friends never considered him violent or dangerous.

"He always had crazy knives and stuff," Barkan said. "But that was just him, he liked that stuff. He would follow my group of friends around uninvited without saying anything, but he never gave anyone a hard time so we always let him hang out."

Other friends posted messages of sorrow on Facebook.

"Honestly this didn't need to happen, and the news is making him out to be some monster when he's not," one post read. "Just so you know he was a really nice person who was in fact easy to get along with."

Thomas Lattanzio Sr., a friend and neighbor of the DiGeronimo family, said Anthony DiGeronimo and his son had played together since they were toddlers and had remained good friends.

"This kid is a very good boy, a very bright young man," Lattanzio said of DiGeronimo. "I just can't understand what happened. I think the kid just had a little bit of a meltdown."

With Yamiche Alcindor