The national problem of mentally unstable cops


Retired White Plains cop dead after killing two daughters, family dogs: officials

BY TERENCE CULLEN , NICOLE HENSLEY , THOMAS TRACY , ELI ROSENBERG
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Westchester town shaken by a former police officer's murder of his two teenage daughters continued to come to grips with the unspeakable tragedy Sunday and was scheduled to open at noon to offer counseling to grief-stricken students.
Glen Hochman, a 22-year veteran who left the White Plains Police Department in January — killed his daughters Alissa, 17, and Deanna, 13, as well as the family's pets in their Adelphi Ave. home in Harrison Saturday before killing himself, authorities said.
"No words to describe it," said Chris Garritano, 17, a senior along with Alissa at Harrison High School. "We always hung out. It's just unreal to see her gone....She always seemed happy."
Police did not immediately reveal how the murders were committed. The retired White Plains cop was recently honored for saving a man’s life.
An autopsy was scheduled to determine the facts surrounding the heinous killings of the raven-haired girls. The family’s German shepherd mix and another animal were also slain, neighbors said.
White Plains cop Glen Hochman (left) killed 17-year-old daughter Alissa (right) and another daughter before killing himself Saturday in their Harrison home, authorities said.
“We believe that there were pets that were killed,” Harrison Police Chief Anthony Marraccini said late Saturday.
The 52-year-old Hochman’s wife, Anamarie DiPietro-Hochman, 50, and their eldest daughter, Samantha, 22, were out of town, Marraccini said.
“I do not believe the wife came home,” the police chief explained. “My understanding is they were not on the scene and they did not find the bodies inside the house.”
Harrison police discovered the carnage after a neighbor called 911 at about 3:30 p.m.
DiPietro-Hochman and her surviving family were inconsolable late Saturday and would not come to the phone when reached.
The grieving mom’s Facebook page was teeming with pics of her three beautiful daughters and husband — including one with Hochman shaking the hand of the dog he later apparently killed.
Adelphi Ave. residents were stunned by the untempered violence.
"As I got closer I heard basically crying, screaming," said Dante Garritano, 53, a neighbor who arrived to the crime scene on his block shortly after police. "It's just a shame...Everyone was very upset."
Retired White Plains officer Glen Hochman killed two teenage daughters before killing himself, authorities said. In this exclusive photo, the medical examiner looks over the body of Glen Hochman inside the garage of his Westchester home late Saturday night.
Other neighbors struggled to understand the senseless bloodshed.
“Adorable, sweet kids. Terrific ladies — all of them,” said neighbor Howard Hollander, 52. “I think we’re all shocked by what’s coming out here tonight. I just can’t say anything that would lead to this.”
Hollander described Hochman as a quiet man who would politely say hello when he was out walking the dog.
“He was kind of a to-himself kind of guy,” he said. “He was quiet.”
The Harrison Community School District issued a statement Saturday night, calling the slayings an “incomprehensible tragedy.”
Hochman served with “honor and integrity” and had an unblemished record, White Plains Public Safety Commissioner David Chong said.
“The department is shocked and horrified by the news of this unfathomable tragedy,” Chong said in a statement provided to the Daily News. “We can only pray for the family.”
Hochman and another officer were honored with their department’s Life Saving Award in May 2014 for racing into the home of a dying man and saving his life with CPR.

Neighbors hinted that the retired cop was having marital problems, News 12 Westchester reported.