Kenny Guido
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Son found with dad's body in E. Patchogue
BY LUIS PEREZ
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May 9, 2007, 10:55 PM EDT
Carlton Shaw Jr. is only 3 years old, but he knows this: When his father is resting, he can fall asleep on top of him.
So Tuesday afternoon, when the little boy stepped out of his East Patchogue home looking for his father, Carlton Shaw, 38, and found him lying quietly on a patch of neat lawn by the side door, he slumped atop him and closed his eyes.
They stayed that way until a neighbor checking on the pair realized that the father was dead.
"We think that he was inside and he went out to look for his dad," the boy's mother, Griselda Amaya, 42, who was working at the time, said in Spanish at their home Wednesday. "He fell asleep on top of him, like he always does."
The little boy did not know it, but his father, a line cook who worked three jobs to pay off his mortgage, had been shot to death in the chest, Suffolk police said Wednesday.
There were no signs of struggle at the scene and no suspects immediately named. Authorities were awaiting the results of an autopsy, as well as reviewing evidence collected at Shaw's two-story ranch house on Amsterdam Avenue for clues.
Neighbors described Shaw as a jovial man born on the Caribbean island of Jamaica who meticulously tended his lawn and shrubs. They said they were stunned by the death. So were police.
"There is nothing in his background that would suggest he could come to this end," said Det. Lt. Jack Fitzpatrick, commanding officer of the homicide squad, who said Shaw had no known criminal record. "He was doing everything he should have been doing to live the American dream."
Suffolk police asked anyone with information about the shooting to make a confidential call to Crime Stoppers at 800-220-TIPS or the homicide squad at 631-852-6392.
Police and Amaya said the neighbor walked across the street at 5 p.m. to check up on Shaw after receiving a call from the neighborhood day care center where Colleen, Shaw's 5-year-old daughter, had been waiting since 3 p.m. to be picked up.
Amaya recalled Wednesday that she and her live-in boyfriend had discussed who would pick up Colleen. At 8:30 a.m., she went to work and he stayed home -- a rare day off in the hectic work schedule both parents kept.
In front of the house, behind Shaw's black Volkswagen Jetta and the spot where Shaw's body rested, sat a brown child car seat that Amaya and her boyfriend constantly swapped.
The couple met in Hauppauge, Amaya said, where both worked as cleaners at a now-defunct hotel. Amaya is an immigrant from El Salvador and speaks little English, and Shaw speaks no Spanish, but they fell in love, she said.
She works as a house cleaner while Shaw worked 35 hours a week each as a cook at two eateries and part-time at a third. They were far from paying the mortgage on the house.
"We push and push and push to pay bills," Amaya said. "I don't know what I'm going to do by myself."
As she spoke, Carl Jr. snored on her shoulder and the couple's daughter tugged at her mother's side.
"He was a very loving father," Amaya added.
BY LUIS PEREZ
[email protected]
May 9, 2007, 10:55 PM EDT
Carlton Shaw Jr. is only 3 years old, but he knows this: When his father is resting, he can fall asleep on top of him.
So Tuesday afternoon, when the little boy stepped out of his East Patchogue home looking for his father, Carlton Shaw, 38, and found him lying quietly on a patch of neat lawn by the side door, he slumped atop him and closed his eyes.
They stayed that way until a neighbor checking on the pair realized that the father was dead.
"We think that he was inside and he went out to look for his dad," the boy's mother, Griselda Amaya, 42, who was working at the time, said in Spanish at their home Wednesday. "He fell asleep on top of him, like he always does."
The little boy did not know it, but his father, a line cook who worked three jobs to pay off his mortgage, had been shot to death in the chest, Suffolk police said Wednesday.
There were no signs of struggle at the scene and no suspects immediately named. Authorities were awaiting the results of an autopsy, as well as reviewing evidence collected at Shaw's two-story ranch house on Amsterdam Avenue for clues.
Neighbors described Shaw as a jovial man born on the Caribbean island of Jamaica who meticulously tended his lawn and shrubs. They said they were stunned by the death. So were police.
"There is nothing in his background that would suggest he could come to this end," said Det. Lt. Jack Fitzpatrick, commanding officer of the homicide squad, who said Shaw had no known criminal record. "He was doing everything he should have been doing to live the American dream."
Suffolk police asked anyone with information about the shooting to make a confidential call to Crime Stoppers at 800-220-TIPS or the homicide squad at 631-852-6392.
Police and Amaya said the neighbor walked across the street at 5 p.m. to check up on Shaw after receiving a call from the neighborhood day care center where Colleen, Shaw's 5-year-old daughter, had been waiting since 3 p.m. to be picked up.
Amaya recalled Wednesday that she and her live-in boyfriend had discussed who would pick up Colleen. At 8:30 a.m., she went to work and he stayed home -- a rare day off in the hectic work schedule both parents kept.
In front of the house, behind Shaw's black Volkswagen Jetta and the spot where Shaw's body rested, sat a brown child car seat that Amaya and her boyfriend constantly swapped.
The couple met in Hauppauge, Amaya said, where both worked as cleaners at a now-defunct hotel. Amaya is an immigrant from El Salvador and speaks little English, and Shaw speaks no Spanish, but they fell in love, she said.
She works as a house cleaner while Shaw worked 35 hours a week each as a cook at two eateries and part-time at a third. They were far from paying the mortgage on the house.
"We push and push and push to pay bills," Amaya said. "I don't know what I'm going to do by myself."
As she spoke, Carl Jr. snored on her shoulder and the couple's daughter tugged at her mother's side.
"He was a very loving father," Amaya added.