Police: Stepdad 'made his mind up to kill'
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Police: Stepdad 'made his mind up to kill'
Dennis J. Wright , Special to The Mercury
PHOENIXVILLE -- According to police, Thomas Conroy came to his former
residence, 1208 Lincoln Ave., determined to kill.
However, the only one at home at the time was his 15-year-old
stepdaughter,
Alana MacNeil.
The other two residents of the house, Caroline Conroy, and her youngest
daughter, Faith Rose Conroy, weren't at home during the ordeal.
Phoenixville De-tective Sgt. Tom Goggin said Conroy arrived at the
residence
with a .12 gauge sawed-off shotgun at 4:42 p.m. Tuesday.
"The shotgun was sawed off at the barrel and the butt," said Goggin.
"He
basically came there determined to kill."
Goggin said MacNeil answered the door and refused to let Conroy in.
"Conroy fired two shots and blew the lock cylinder off of the door. He
then
forced his way into the residence," Goggin continued. "While we are
still
reconstructing everything, it appears that he killed the girl, and was
waiting for her mother to come home.
"He must've become aware that the police were outside, and that the
mother
wasn't showing up, so he took his own life."
Lt. William Mossman said MacNeil was found dead of two gun shots in a
bedroom, while Conroy, who shot himself in the head, was discovered in
the
master bedroom.
Goggin said that Conroy randomly fired shots, eight total, inside the
residence, one destroying the television set. Detectives discovered
that
Conroy had 11 unfired shotgun shells on him.
"He wasn't acting rationally," said Goggin. "He smelled of alcohol.
It
appears that he made his mind up to kill, and he was prepared to kill
anyone
that got in his path."
Prior to Conroy's arrival at the house, Mossman said that Conroy was
involved in a hit-and-run accident on North Lewis Road in Limerick
about
4:15 p.m.
Conroy, who once lived at the Lincoln Avenue residence, was last known
to be
residing in Willow Grove.
Goggin said that Thomas Conroy and Caroline Conroy were still married,
but
were in the process of going through a divorce.
"There was a domestic relations hearing scheduled for Friday," he said.
Mossman said that his department had been at the residence in the past
for
several domestic disturbances and protection from abuse order
violations.
"He continued to harass the household after he'd left there," he
said.
Goggin said that it appeared that MacNeil had come home from school and
started a chicken dinner for her family.
"When Conroy showed up, she locked the door, and that's when he fired
the
two shots at the door," he said."She did the only thing possible, and
that
is she took the cordless phone and ran for safety inside the house. She
was
trying to make contact with someone to save her. She had just
established
contact with the 911 center before she lost her life."
A day after the shooting, high school Principal Richard Kaskey said the
atmosphere was "numb."
Students at the middle and high schools went to one of several
assemblies
Wednesday designed to help with bereavement. School staff met prior to
the
workday.
About 50 students received individual counseling from a pool of all the
district counselors, crisis intervention specialists and psychologists.
Frank Garritano, assistant principal at the high school, said that a
district psychologist had told him that students were "going through
the
grieving process in a normal manner."
"By the end of the day, students were grateful that they were able to
talk,
and were doing as well as expected," said Garritano.
Many students had inscribed messages on a pair of large posters at the
high
school's entrance, with the intent to turn their thoughts and
feelings over
one day to the family of their fallen classmate.
One of the last things that MacNeil was doing was homework, said
Goggin,
which was an assignment on the Korean War from Hank Coyne's history
class.
"Her notes were very detailed and were sitting by her computer," he
said.
"She must've done an interview with her paternal grandfather, Raymond
MacNeil. This is absolutely heart-breaking and tragic."
Bill Rettew contributed to this story.