Couple discussed separating before ex-officer, teens killed

[Jazzy]

The retired police officer who apparently shot and killed his two teenage daughters and himself had recently spoken with his wife about the possibility of separating, police said Monday.

And on the day before the killings, his wife had gone to police to report an argument over an $80 cellphone bill, said Harrison police Chief Anthony Marraccini, but there was no indication of violence.

"She didn't want us to pursue it, she just wanted to document it," the chief said.

Police believe Glen Hochman, a retired White Plains police officer, shot and killed his daughters, 17-year-old Alissa and 13-year-old Deanna, and himself on Saturday. His wife and a third, older, daughter were not at home.

The chief said his investigation had turned up that there had been "a family discussion about a possible separation." He would not say whether the discussion was considered a motive in the killings.

Marraccini said police found a note with Hochman's body in the garage of their home in the Westchester County town of Harrison, and that the note "gave some indication of motive," but he would not elaborate pending a news conference later Monday.

The girls' bodies were found in the main level of the home. Three dogs had also been shot to death.

Marraccini said Monday that the handgun recovered near Hochman's body, believed to be the weapon in the killings, belonged to Hochman.

Hochman spent 22 years at the White Plains Police Department before retiring recently. White Plains police Commissioner David Chong said Hochman had served with honor and integrity and the department was "shocked and horrified by the news of this unfathomable tragedy."

Marraccini said police went to the home in the Westchester County village of Harrison after a person reported that no one was answering the door. Police found the bodies of Hochman and his daughters at 3:50 p.m.

"It looks at this time that the father killed the two girls and then himself," Marraccini said. He said Monday that there was not yet any official finding of cause of death.

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He killed the kids to cause pain to the wife. How sad.