Hampton Bays Shooting Incident Was A 'Tragic' Mishap: Two Killed By Single Bullet Fired By Mistake

The shooting deaths of two Hampton Bays residents on March 4, initially described by Suffolk County Police homicide detectives as a murder-suicide, was, in fact, a gun mishap that killed them both — with a single bullet.

Southampton Town Police Chief Steven Skrynecki said Thursday that an investigation by County Police and Town Police has concluded, and the deaths of Jonathan Fava, 26, and Kelly Lynn Bray, 25, did not involve a homicide, or a suicide. Instead, he said, it was “the tragic death of two individuals.”

He added, “The evidence supports that a single shot was fired, and that single shot took the lives of two individuals.”

He cited ballistic evidence, autopsies by the Suffolk County medical examiner’s office, physical evidence, and the testimony of a witness to the shooting, a friend who was in the Ponquogue Avenue home at the time it occurred, around 11:30 p.m.

Chief Skrynecki said the investigation concluded that both Mr. Fava and Ms. Bray, who were engaged and living in the Hampton Bays home with their young child, had handled the Glock semiautomatic handgun. It is believed the weapon discharged by accident, with both believing it was unloaded at the time.

“At some point during that handling, the gun went off,” he said.

The bullet struck both victims in the head. They both were killed almost instantly and were pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.

“We’re not able to determine whether that trigger was pulled intentionally or accidentally,” the chief said. In either case, it was ruled an accidental shooting, because even an intentional trigger pull likely involved a weapon that was believed to be unloaded.

He did say there was no evidence of a disagreement between Mr. Fava and Ms. Bray before the shot was fired, nor was there any evidence of a suicide attempt.

The chief would not say who is believed to have fired the shot. “What’s germane to the investigation was the criminality,” he said, and no criminal act is believed to have taken place. “It is not necessarily going to give us a perfect picture.”

He did note that the gun was being “passed around,” and that “a significant amount of alcohol consumption” was a factor, involving both Mr. Fava and Ms. Bray — an incident demonstrating the “dangers of mixing alcohol and handguns,” he said.

The chief said ballistic evidence and gun tracing shows the handgun was unregistered, and neither victim had a permit for it. Police could not find the last owner of the handgun in official records.

Town Police responded to a 911 call for a shooting at the home, made by a 27-year-old woman, identified by police as an acquaintance of the couple who did not live at the home but was in the house at the time it occurred.

Their 1½-year-old daughter, who was in the house at the time, was unharmed. She is currently being cared for by relatives.

At a press conference the day after the shooting, Chief Skrynecki ruled out possibilities such as a home invasion, but he would not call the shooting a murder-suicide, as County Police did earlier that day.

“Whatever happened there is in the confines of that house,” he said at the time. “We’re not going to speculate at this time as to exactly what happened. There is considerable forensic evidence to be gone through.”

The investigation’s ultimate conclusion — that one bullet, fired unintentionally, killed the young parents — is “clearly unusual,” he allowed this week. But he said from the start that he believed “there were a number of possibilities,” and he hesitated to “jump to a conclusion.”

“I come from a place where, until I can make some very verifiable, conclusive statements, I prefer not to,” he said Thursday. “And what I do prefer to do is examine all potentials … and then let the facts take me to where they lead me.”