Cops: Nassau Jail Guard Went on Shooting Spree

A Nassau County jail guard fatally shot a nurse’s aide she had dated, then drove to her uncle’s nearby home where she shot him to death, shot her grandfather in the leg and abducted her niece early Wednesday morning, Nassau County police said.

A Nassau County Sheriffs Department Officer, center, stands with residents next door to the home at 56 Vermont Avenue in Hempstead, N.Y., on June 16, 2010, where authorities claim Nassau County Corrections Officer Kim Wolfe fatally shot a 56-year-old man believed to be her uncle and also shot another man believed to be her grandfather. Wolfe is also suspected in the earlier fatal shooting of Stacie Williams, a 45-year- old nurse's aide at Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)

Nassau County Corrections Officer Kim Wolfe, 43, was briefly hospitalized with difficulty breathing but is expected to be arraigned Thursday at First District Court in Hempstead, police said. The charges she is facing were not immediately clear.

Police said she had arranged to meet with Stacie Williams, 45, but the meeting turned violent when Wolfe shot Williams with a 9mm handgun. A security guard found Williams lying on the ground suffering from multiple gunshot wounds at 1:35 a.m. outside Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, where the victim worked the night shift in the maternity ward, police said. She died a half hour later in the emergency room, police said.

Meanwhile, Wolfe drove about three miles away to Hempstead, where she confronted her 88-year-old grandfather, Marshall Williams, Sr., who was shot in the leg. He was taken to an area hospital for treatment.

Wolfe fatally shot her 56-year-old uncle, Marshall Williams, Jr., in the chest when he tried to intervene, police said.

“The disagreement or conversation that they had actually pertained to issues of…her will and her beneficiaries,” Commissioner Lawrence W. Mulvey said, adding that investigators are exploring that Wolfe may have been suicidal.

Wolfe then abducted at gunpoint her 23-year-old niece and began to drive to Atlantic City, N.J., in her Mitsubishi Montero but called the Virginia Avenue home several times on the way. A Hempstead Police officer who picked up the phone persuaded her to return with the help of hostage negotiators.

Officers apprehended Wolfe on Harriet Avenue at 5:45 a.m. The hostage was released unharmed, police said.

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A Homicide Squad detective told reporters that Wolfe and Williams had a romantic relationship.

“They had broken up and were trying to reconcile,” Detective Richard Laursen said.

Stacie Williams, who wasn’t related to Marshall and Michael Williams, worked at the hospital for 23 years, hospital spokeswoman Shelley Lotenberg said. “Our sympathies and prayers go out to the family, friends and colleagues,” she said.

Williams was a vibrant personality who always had a smile on her face, Civil Service Employees Association President Jerry Laricchiuta said in a statement.

“We knew Stacie as a hardworking professional who was a wonderful worker, and was a great asset to NUMC,” he said. “Our hearts go out to the families involved in this tragedy. We lost a great health care professional today.”

Mulvey described Wolfe’s pistol as her “service weapon” but said it was not clear if she bought it privately or whether it was issued to her as part of her job as a correction officer. A detective noted that guards do not carry weapons while on duty.

Wolfe is a correction officer of 19 years who worked the midnight shift supervising inmates at the county jail next to the hospital, said Liz Consolo, a spokeswoman for the Nassau County sheriff’s office. She was not scheduled to work on Wednesday morning, the spokeswoman said.

Consolo declined to comment on Wolfe’s disciplinary record or any other details of her employment.

Neighbors gathered outside the crime scene and expressed shock. “It’s crazy because everybody’s saying she was good,” said one woman, who asked not to be identified. “It wasn’t like she was a psycho or anything, she was like a normal person.”

 -With Associated Press and Timothy Bolger