3 found dead on Staten Island, father questioned, NYPD says

Three people on Staten Island are dead in a suspected homicide — a U.S. military servicewoman and two young boys — and the children's father, also a member of the military, is being questioned by the police about the case, according to the NYPD.

Officers dispatched to a Palisade Street address at 10:30 a.m. Saturday came upon a smoke-filled residence and soon found the three dead people — the woman, 36, and two children, ages 2 and 3, said Assistant Chief Kenneth Corey, the NYPD's commander for Staten Island. 

NYPD spokeswoman Sgt. Mary O'Donnell said the children were boys. The victims' names are being withheld pending family notification, she said.

Corey said the medical examiner would determine the causes of death. The bodies were all found in a single room, he said, and the case is being treated as a homicide. 

About two hours before the discovery, which followed a 911 call, the man, also 36, was found walking along the nearby Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, Corey said, and was hospitalized for an evaluation.  

What precipitated the 911 call, which came in for "an assault in progress," was not disclosed.

The Palisade Street address is a multifamily house near the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, and Corey said there had been one call before to the police about a domestic disturbance. He did not elaborate.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.