A Queens man, suspected of killing his sister and mother and detonating their Far Rockaway home, was described by neighbors as a “ticking time bomb” who always seemed to have “something crazy about him.”
Kegan Thomas, 33, was shot and injured by NYPD officers around noon on Saturday after his terrified wife called 911, leading to a chaotic confrontation with the police.
Inside the residence on Ocean Crest Boulevard, authorities discovered the bodies of Thomas’ sister, Selena Ponce, 28, and his mother, Clemer Ponce, 56.
Neighbor John White remarked, “There was something crazy about him,” adding that he always sensed something off about Thomas and often avoided talking to him.
White recounted, “When I said, ‘Hi,’ he would give me a thousand-yard stare.”
Thomas, currently in critical condition in the hospital, has not been officially charged. Police claim he went into a rage on Saturday, wearing a bulletproof vest and wielding a shotgun inside the house.
As the NYPD Emergency Services Unit arrived, an explosion occurred inside the home. Officers repeatedly ordered Thomas to drop his weapon before engaging him.
NYPD Assistant Chief Christopher McIntosh stated at a briefing, “Officers issued numerous verbal commands for the subject to put his hands up so he could drop the weapon.”
McIntosh continued, “After failing to comply with repeat commands to put his hands up and still armed [with] the shotgun, officers discharged their weapons and struck the suspect.”
White recalled hearing Thomas shouting during the police encounter.
He reported Thomas was yelling, “Oh, I’m gonna kill everybody. I’m gonna kill the block. I’m killing them all.”
White noted that loud arguments were frequent in the Thomas household. He once saw Thomas climbing through a window before another heated altercation.
“Every day in that house there was a lot of domestic violence going on,” the neighbor added. “I just kept hearing them screaming at each other.”
“He was a real weirdo,” White concluded.
Police confirmed on Monday that Thomas remains in critical condition.
Additional reporting by Amanda Woods
