STAMFORD (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – A man suspected of fatally shooting a woman in Rockland County on Wednesday morning was tracked down to Stamford, where he shot and killed himself under a Metro-North overpass as officers surrounded him, authorities said Thursday.
The cross-state investigation was sparked by the shooting of a 56-year-old woman in Hillcrest shortly before 9 a.m.
Police responding to a home on Inwood Drive found the woman lying unresponsive on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds.
She was rushed to an area hospital, where she was pronounced dead. She hasn’t been identified.
During the investigation, Ramapo police determined the suspect, Lawrence Byrd, 53, had fled to Connecticut.
Around 1:45 p.m. Wednesday, Ramapo police alerted cops in Stamford that Byrd was possibly in their city.
Stamford patrol officers and investigators checked out multiple locations, ultimately focusing their search efforts on the Bayview Towers on Tresser Boulevard.
It was there shortly before 4 p.m. that a man fitting Byrd’s description walked out of the residential high-rise.
Officers followed Byrd and approached him at Canal and South State streets, beneath a Metro-North overpass.
As a patrol officer exited his vehicle, the suspect pulled out a gun and put it to his head, police said.
“Within seconds” he fired one shot into his head and collapsed onto the street, according to police.
Officers immediately rendered aid, and EMS rushed him to Stamford Hospital, where he was pronounced dead just after 4:15 p.m.
“The suspect did take his own life,” Ramapo police said, adding, “this was an isolated incident and there is no threat to the general public.”
More than a half-dozen state and local agencies from New York and Connecticut are involved in the investigations into the two deaths.
Sources told WABC-TV that the shooting is believed to be domestic in nature. The relationship between Byrd and the woman wasn't immediately known.
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