A father on a weekend trip to Marist College in New York is dead after shots rang out Sunday morning at a nearby Marriott hotel.
According to NBC New York, two men with reported gang ties have been arrested for the shooting. They’ve been identified as Roy Johnson Jr. and Devin Taylor. Both have been arrested.
The Poughkeepsie Journal reports that the victim was identified as 53-year-old Paul Kutz, who was at the Poughkeepsie’s Courtyard by Marriott, where he was staying for the weekend. Gunshots were fired both outside and inside of the hotel. Kutz was reportedly an innocent bystander who got caught in the crossfire.
The shooting occurred during that Marist’s “Family Weekend,” an event where families and students come together for a weekend of activities.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, the Town of Poughkeepsie Police Department said that officers searching the building after the shooting found “manuals related to the making of explosive devices, as well as materials with the potential to be used as explosives” in one of the rooms.
The material was secured by the New York State Police bomb squad and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives was notified. Investigators did not say if the room where those materials were found was connected with the murder investigation.
Police located one of the suspect’s rooms in the hotel after his arrest and locked it down for further investigation.
Police said that they were called to the Courtyard by Marriott on South Road, several miles from the Marist campus, for a report of a disturbance with shots fire.
Arriving officers located two suspects and took them into custody then found the victim, with multiple gunshot wounds, inside the hotel. He was taken to a local area hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Police said multiple agencies responded to the scene to help with processing witnesses and assisting guests at the hotel, who were evacuated out of an abundance of caution.
Most hotels in the area were full for Marist’s annual event, held Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
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[Featured image: Mid Hudson News screenshot]
Additional reporting by KC Wildmoon
