Gunman sought after 2 killed, 3 wounded in Douglass Township

Authorities continued to search Sunday for the gunman who killed a 2-year-old boy and a 43-year-old man and wounded three others Saturday night at a home in a rural section of Douglass Township.

All of the victims were shot in the head; at least one of the wounded - Monica Shay - was not expected to survive.

Police identified the dead as Joseph Shay, 43, who lived in Yarmouth, Mass., and New York, and Gregory Erdmann, 2.

Gregory's mother, Kathryn Erdmann, 37, of Fall River, Mass., was hospitalized in critical condition, along with Paul and Monica Shay, the owners of the property.

Paul Shay, 64, and Monica Shay, 58, live in New York City, where he owns a plumbing business and his wife is an associate professor at Pratt Institute. She grew up on the property on Renninger Road, a gravel road that yellow police tape blocked off until late Sunday.

Joseph Shay - Paul Shay's nephew - had an extensive criminal record in New York and New Jersey dating to 1992, when he was sentenced in Atlantic County to 10 years in prison for drug dealing. He was released in 1998, state records show.

More recently, he was imprisoned for nearly two years in New York for grand larceny - the theft of $1,000 or more. He was released about a year ago, according to state records.

One acquaintance said Paul Shay had recently confided that his nephew was working for him as part of his rehabilitation.

Neighbors said Paul and Monica Shay would spend weekends at the property, which they had bought from her mother, Ann E. Newbold, for $200,000 in 2003, public records show.

After Erdmann, identified by other news outlets as Joseph Shay's girlfriend, called 911 about 10:30 p.m. to say she had been shot, police found Paul Shay wounded outside and Erdmann and her child inside, Montgomery County First Assistant District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said. It was not immediately clear where the others had been discovered.

"They were all shot in the head, which is unusual, but beyond that we don't have anything else to suggest this was a targeted hit," Steele said.

None of the surviving victims, who firefighters said had been taken by helicopter to Pottstown Memorial Medical Center and Lehigh Valley Hospital, was able to speak to investigators.

Video from the scene Saturday night showed one victim, apparently Paul Shay, sitting conscious on a stretcher, surrounded by emergency personnel.

Investigators asked for help from the public: "If anyone in the area sees anything unusual, sees any people or person that is unfamiliar to them in the area, we're asking for them to call the police department right away," Steele said.

The shootings set off a massive police search of the area involving a helicopter, police dogs, and a SWAT team.

The house, almost surrounded by trees, is set back about 300 feet and just a few hundred yards from a busy highway.

Kath Landis, who lives a few hundred yards away, said she and her family did not hear anything Saturday night "until the sirens started up."

Landis said the property had belonged to the Newbold family for years.

After a fire destroyed the original house, Paul and Monica Shay replaced it with the large, three-story structure, built off a hillside.

Edward Newbold, 60, one of Monica's two older brothers, said the house was not finished. "It was going to be a lifetime project to finish that house," said Newbold, a wildlife artist who lives in Seattle.

Sounding as if he had been crying when he answered the phone, he said he had been told there was "no hope - zero, zero, zero" that his sister would survive.

"She was beautiful, loved. She was a wonderful beautiful person. I miss her so much," he said.

Of Paul Shay, who owns A Real Good Plumber Inc., Newbold said: "I always admired his courage as a businessperson. He always wanted to expand the business and take it to another level."

A 20-year East Village neighbor of Paul Shay's, Dan Hoyt, described the contractor as "a great guy, good businessman, very hardworking, very honest guy," who "cares a lot about people."

Hoyt and Newbold said Joseph Shay had a troubled past.

"I've seen him around the neighborhood a lot lately, wandering the streets talking on his cellphone at all hours," Hoyt said. "Who knows? Maybe he was talking to his girlfriend."

Dan Holohan, who operates a website called HeatingHelp.com, said he had known Paul Shay for 20 years. In January, Shay told him that his nephew had been in prison, but Holohan had no more details.

Holohan met Joseph Shay once. "He was a big happy guy, with life on the mend," he said.

Anyone with information was asked to contact Douglass Township police at 610-367-0466 or Montgomery County detectives at 610-278-3368.