Sources: Guns were returned to officer accused in spree

A Nassau correction officer Wednesday killed her one-time girlfriend and her uncle and shot her grandfather — a spree that was fueled by a soured relationship and a family dispute over insurance money, Nassau police said.

The four-hour ordeal began at Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow. It ended when Kim Wolfe was arrested near dawn on a Hempstead street after having held her niece hostage for more than two hours as she drove to Staten Island and back, and triggered a widespread search, police said.

Wolfe, who worked the night shift at the jail next to NUMC, had voluntarily given up the weapon used in the shooting more than a year ago, police said, and it had been returned to her by law enforcement authorities less than two days earlier.

Stacie Williams, 45, of Hempstead, was shot just outside a NUMC entrance at 1:30 a.m., police said.

“My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and families of today’s tragic shooting,” Nassau County Executive Edward P. Mangano said in a statement.

Wolfe is charged with two counts of second-degree murder, attempted murder, kidnapping and assault.

Wolfe, 43, and Williams, a maternity nurse’s aide at NUMC and a divorced mother of three sons, at one time had an “intimate relationship,” police said.

But the relationship had recently soured, and contact between the pair in recent weeks was believed to be attempts at reconciliation, police and relatives said.

“My sister and her weren’t speaking for months,” said Williams’ sister Patricia Bines. “She \[Wolfe\] just kind of surfaced again.”

Police said the pair had arranged to hand off a meal outside the hospital early Wednesday morning, when Wolfe was off-duty.

Williams was shot once in the head and at least twice in the torso. A McDonald’s bag containing a wrapped sandwich and fries was found next to her body.

Confronting her family

About a half-hour later, Wolfe arrived by car at her family’s house on Vermont Avenue and confronted her 88-year-old grandfather, Marshall Williams, and her uncle, Michael Williams, 56. Neither is related to Stacie Williams.

Wolfe, in what police described as a distraught state, announced that she’d shot Stacie Williams. At one point, she tossed insurance beneficiary forms, apparently aimed at her grandfather, along with words to the effect of, “Do with these what you want now,” Det. Lt. Kevin Smith said.

Moments later, Wolfe shot her uncle multiple times, killing him, then shot her grandfather in the leg, police said. He survived. Wolfe then told her sister, who was also in the home, that she needed to take her 23-year-old niece hostage “for her protection” and forced the woman into her car at gunpoint.

“A long-standing dispute in the family about who would be her beneficiary” began well before Wednesday’s events, Smith said.

Wolfe made several calls while driving, including some to the Vermont Avenue house, police said. A Hempstead officer answered one of the calls and began a frequently interrupted dialogue that lasted more than two hours, officials said. At one point, Wolfe said  she was headed to Atlantic City.

Wolfe had crossed the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge when she turned around just before the bridge’s toll booths in Staten Island. She then drove to an agreed-upon spot near a Hempstead fast-food restaurant but did not stop. Officers followed her and Wolfe pulled over on Harriet Avenue and was taken into custody at 5:45 a.m. without further incident. A 9-mm gun was in her lap when she pulled over.

The niece, who was not hurt, returned to the home at about 1:30 p.m. but declined to speak about the case, saying: “I’ve got to go see about my mom.”

Two guns returned

Police and other county law enforcement sources said in May 2009 that Wolfe had voluntarily turned in the Glock 9-mm pistol that was recovered from her car Wednesday — along with a Smith & Wesson .38 caliber revolver — to the sheriff’s department for safekeeping.

Wolfe did not provide a reason for turning over the guns, which were her personal property, or for why she asked for their return last Friday, sources said. Wolfe’s supervisor, an internal affairs officer, and others all approved their return before the handoff to Wolfe on Monday. “There was no reason not to return the guns,” one source said.

Elizabeth Loconsolo, general counsel for the sheriff’s department, said the department had never forced Wolfe to relinquish her weapons. She declined to comment on her employment or disciplinary record.

The shooting of Stacie Williams stunned her hospital co-workers, many of whom also knew Wolfe.

“She was a class act, always dressed well, and she was so proud of her kids,” said Lynne Kramer, a former NUMC payroll employee, of Williams, who worked in maternity and delivery wards. “The families loved her because she was a good soul inside and out.”

Soon after hearing about the shooting, Williams’ 28-year old son was struck by a car but not seriously injured, police said.

After her arrest, Wolfe complained of difficulty breathing and was taken to NUMC for evaluation. She was cleared to be returned to jail and was to be held overnight for a scheduled arraignment in a Hempstead court Thursday.

A neighbor of Wolfe’s in North Babylon said Wolfe had been coping with the recent death of her father.

“She told me she was dealing with it,” said Linda Ferrari, who lives on Rhoda Avenue, near Wolfe’s single-story house, which has a front porch and neatly manicured lawn.

“I know her father helped her out with the house, and the people across the street looked after her since she lived alone,” said another neighbor, Susan Quinn.

Vermont Avenue residents, some of whom have known Wolfe since high school, were shocked by the allegations.

“I know she had 20 years on the job, owned her own house,” said a neighbor who asked not to be identified. “To do this doesn’t make sense.”

With Matthew Chayes, Gary Dymski, Zeke Miller, William Murphy, Ridgely Ochs and Ben Weider.