ELMWOOD PARK, NJ – Neighbors in a normally quiet suburb of New Jersey were shocked and shaken Tuesday after an incident involving a person barricaded inside a house.
Police swarmed around Beechwood Avenue in Elmwood Park around 9:30 a.m. after someone called 911, according to Bergen County Prosecutors.
Investigators said they will be at a house here by Tuesday night, where a standoff with a suspect eventually resulted in his surrender and resulted in officers making a gruesome find. They confirmed that an 81-year-old relative of the suspect was found dead in the house on Beechwood Avenue.
Neighbor Quran Farrar said the police presence is a stark change for the normally quiet town about half an hour west of Manhattan.
“I thought a tree fell or something. They closed the road, ”Farrar told PIX11 News.
Unfortunately, the situation seemed much more threatening.
After the arrival of the SWAT team and the police, the person surrendered at around 10:20 a.m. When the officers went inside, they discovered the body of 81-year-old Ronald Vicari.
Neighbors said Vicari served on some community planning bodies.
Police told PIX11 News that they were interviewing a younger resident of the house who neighbors said is Vicari’s grandson.
Resident Darlene Westervelt was stunned by the news.
“That’s totally – I’ve lived here all my life, more than 60 years, and nothing like this has ever happened,” she said. “God let the man’s soul rest, you know? I feel very bad for his family and everything that is going on. “
She and other neighbors said that they remained numb about what had happened.
Vendetta Hammonds, who lives four doors from the house where Vicari’s body was found, said she was “very shocked, yes, very much”.
Westervelt, her neighbor, said that now the whole neighborhood will try to make sense of what happened. Investigators meanwhile continue to question the suspect.
“Terrifying,” said Westervelt. “That just shows you you could be the cutest people in the world and you just don’t know when people snap.”
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