Crime & Safety
Hicksville Shooting Victim With Boyfriend When Rifle Discharged
Cops: One other unidentified person was with Megan Bookstaver, 23, in Tarrytown home when rifle went off.
New details are emerging from Monday's shooting death of a Hicksville woman who was shot dead in in her boyfriend's Tarrytown home.
Megan Bookstaver, 23, a Mercy College student from Hicksville, was with her boyfriend at his family's luxury town home on Labor Day when a rifle was discharged in an upstairs bedroom. Other family members were home at the time of the tragedy, shortly after 4 p.m. on Monday.
Bookstaver's boyfriend was identified by Tarrytown police as Eric Gaulin, 25, whose family owned the home which looked out on the Tappen Zee Bridge on the Hudson River. A third person, as yet unidentified, was with the couple at the time of the shooting, police said.
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No one has been charged in connection with the shooting. Police are continuing an investigation.
“The victim was apparently in the company of two other persons in a fourth-floor bedroom examining firearms when one discharged. She was struck in the head,” Tarrytown Police Lt. William Herguth told CBS 2 Tuesday.
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Bookstaver was pronounced dead at the scene.
The rifle, was one of several found at the scene, police said, and Gaulin and Bookstaver were gun enthusiasts. Gaulin, a graduate of Elon University, spent part of Sunday at a gun range and returned home with his car packed with target shooting equipment, CBS 2 reported.
The family in Hicksville and the college community in Westchester were trying to cope with the tragedy:
At the Bookstaver family home in Hicksville, the victim's brother made a brief comment: “She was a great sister and I loved her,” Lucas Bookstaver told CBS 2.
Mercy College, which is returning for its fall semester, issued a statement:
"The entire Mercy College community is saddened to hear of the death of Mercy College student, Megan Bookstaver," Rivertowns Patch reported. "Our thoughts and prayers are with her family at this difficult time."
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