A prosecutor said Monday that a former New York state -of -Troper who claimed he was shot by an unidentified gunman on the Long Island Highway, who landed a multi -estate man Hunt, in fact to himself Shot and took the gun home.
According to an agency spokesman, Thomas Maskia and his parents surrendered to the state police on Long Island on Monday.
27 -year -old Masia was accused of tampering with evidence, misinformation of the crime and official mismanagement. Her parents, 55 -year -old Doroti Mesia and a former New York Police Department officer, Thomas Mesia, 62, were accused of counting a counting of firearms that found in their bedrooms. Wait Officials said that as a convicted crime, his father is not allowed to hold a gun legally.
The three requested not to be guilty and were released on their identity. Their next judicial day is scheduled for February 5.
Jeffrey Lachtman, a lawyer for the Messia Family, said that for years, Masia has been suffering from “unbeaten mental health issues.”
“There are very little and less dangerous ways to gain sympathy, which do not include shooting yourself,” he said. “This is a tragedy that was caused by the unseen and non -treatment mental health problems. And now a whole family is suffering for it as they usually do in such situations.
Investigation of the state police and district attorney’s office found no evidence to prove Mesia’s claim that he had stopped in the parkway’s median to check a disabled vehicle. He recovered a firearms that were illegal.
NASA County District Attorney Ann Donley said at a news conference on Monday that Maskia started the shooting hours on October 30 before reporting the shoot.
Officials said that he dropped .22-Cleber Shell Casing on the shoulder of the Southern State Parkway in West Hampsted and later went to the Hampsted Lake State Park, where he shot himself in the leg.
He then brought the gun to his house, which shared with his parents and went back to the parkway that he was shot.
Donley said his claim caused a riot to include law enforcement agencies from New York, New Jersey and Delaware.
Prosecutors said in a criminal complaint against Maskia that the state police temporarily closed the parkway in the southern state in an attempt to find a non -existent shooter, which caused the public to rise and suffer. ”
Masia claimed that he had approached him about which he believes about a trapped motorcycle, and as he did, he was shot by a dark leather man. In a Kali Palki, possibly a dodge charger, which is temporarily a New Jersey license plate.
Donley said the state police have made extensive video canvas to try to claim Maskia, claiming that the alleged attacker was driving but could not be detected. He said nine shells were found at the scene, but no estimates were recovered. Donley said investigators were able to decide that Masia shot himself in the park through GPS and other technology.
The district attorney said, “The absence of evidence and the absence of evidence told us everything we need to know.” “Although Masia tried to hide her tracks, it was not too late to uncover everyone that her amazing story was nothing but a vast work of fiction.”
He added: “He knew the fear that would arise from it. But he did it anyway. Even though sympathy, attention, to reduce an injured ego, what he did is irresponsible. –
He was treated due to bullet wounds in his right leg, and a day after the shooting was released by law enforcement agencies, a ceremony was held for him.
“Law enforcement agencies in Long Island celebrated that it was safe and we vowed to find a dangerous person who shot him,” Donally said Donley said. “But we will never do. Because the shooter we all were looking for was only in Masia’s head. In his imagination.
Masia, who became a tropper in 2019, was suspended without any salary in early November when state police announced that she had launched an investigation into the shooting and no one was being sought. –
State Police Superintendent Steven James said Masia resigned on Friday. He described Masia’s behavior as “extremely amazing” and said that he “has generally damaged the reputation of law enforcement agencies.”
“What I will make clear is that the state police, we do not tolerate such behavior, especially wrong things when a member breaks the law,” James said at a news conference.
