by WorldTribune Staff, June 9, 2019
A 64-year-old man who shot and killed two intruders in his upstate New York home was arrested and charged with a felony for using an unregistered gun.
Ronald Stolarczyk was in the kitchen of his Deerfield home when two burglars who had allegedly robbed him on a previous occasion broke in and “started coming toward him,” police say.
Stolarczyk told police he then fired three or four shots, striking both burglars. Patricia Anne Talerico and her nephew Nicholas Talerico were killed. Police said “a large amount of property” believed to have been taken from the initial burglary at Stolarczyk’s home was discovered at Nicholas Talerico’s apartment in Utica.
Police arrested Stolarczyk for illegal possession of a firearm. The gun he used to defend himself and his home had been inherited from his father and not registered.
Under New York’s restrictive gun control laws, Stolarczyk wasn’t required to undergo a background check to receive the handgun from his father, but he was required to have a permit to legally own the firearm and have it registered in his name.
Stolarczyk was charged with criminal possession of a firearm, a felony. The weapon was a 38-caliber Rossi revolver, according to court documents. He has been released from jail and his next court date is Aug. 5.
According to Syracuse.com, Oneida County District Attorney Scott McNamara said there is nothing to indicate this wasn’t a justifiable homicide. But he stressed he can’t say that until the investigation is complete. The autopsy report on the aunt hasn’t come back yet, and that is critical.
Stolarczyk told authorities he shot the two in the front area of their bodies as they came at him, the DA said.
McNamara said it did appear Nicholas Talerico was shot in the chest, but they don’t have Patricia Talerico’s autopsy yet. If for some reason it showed she was, for example, shot four times in the back, “that would be a game-changer,” McNamara said.
“He told me that when they were coming up the stairs, that as they approached him, that he was scared to death and he thought they were going to kill him. One of the troopers said, ‘did you see anything in their hands?’ He said, ‘I didn’t look at their hands, I just saw them coming at me and I thought to myself, at that point, that it’s either them or me,’ and he just started firing,” defense attorney Mark Wolber said.
The handgun was checked, and Stolarczyk’s father had purchased it legally from a local dealer, the DA said.
Rumors about the homeowner owing the two money or it being a drug deal gone bad are false, McNamara said.
Investigators in the case discovered that Stolarczyk’s home had no electricity or running water and had been condemned. It was seized by the state, reports say.
WKTV reports that “Stolarczyk is being provided with temporary shelter and benefits through Social Services.”
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