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Herkimer, N.Y. —
Brian Cassidy was taking out the trash earlier this week when his neighbor Michael Renshaw stopped by.
“I just talked to him two days ago. He stopped in my driveway and busted my chops that I hadn’t come down to see his new house,” said Cassidy, of McKennan Road in Frankfort. “So, it was actually kind of weird to hear his name today.”
Renshaw, a 23-year New York State Department of Corrections officer who worked at Mid-State Correctional Facility, was one of four people police say was killed Wednesday by Kurt Meyers, 64.
Police believe Myers set fire to his Mohawk home Wednesday morning before shooting four people — two fatally — at John’s Barbershop in Mohawk. He then killed two more people — including Renshaw, who was in his 40s, and employee Thomas Stefka — at Gaffey’s Fast Lube in Herkimer.
“It’s just one of those things where you can’t believe it’s going on in your hometown,” said Cassidy, who attended Herkimer High School with Renshaw and graduated a year after him in 1981. “I think he just went down to get his oil changed.
“He was a great person, was always happy, a good golfer and every time you saw him it was a big handshake with a big smile on his face,” he said. “I don’t know anyone who didn’t like him. He was one of those types of guys.”
Harry Montgomery, Sr., 68, of Mohawk, was at John’s Barbershop for a haircut Wednesday morning, his son said.
“My sister was at the bank cashing a check when she heard all the commotion,” said Montgomery’s son Harry Montgomery, Jr. “She came out to see what was going on and found out it was Dad who got shot.”
Montgomery, Sr. and Michael Rancier, 57, a Herkimer resident and a retired correction officer at Mohawk Correctional, were killed there.
“All of us at the New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association are deeply saddened to learn of the senseless and tragic deaths (of Renshaw and Rancier),” according to a statement of PBA.
John Seymour, owner of the barbershop, and Dan Haslauer, a customer, were in critical condition Wednesday evening at St. Elizabeth Medical Center.
Fellow barber Al Moretti, owner of Moretti’s Barber Shop in Herkimer, knows Seymour and was shaken by the news.
“He’s a barber; I’m a barber,” he said. “We were just talking on Monday. … I can’t believe what happened in a small town like Herkimer. It’s scary.”
Brian Cassidy was taking out the trash earlier this week when his neighbor Michael Renshaw stopped by.
“I just talked to him two days ago. He stopped in my driveway and busted my chops that I hadn’t come down to see his new house,” said Cassidy, of McKennan Road in Frankfort. “So, it was actually kind of weird to hear his name today.”
Renshaw, a 23-year New York State Department of Corrections officer who worked at Mid-State Correctional Facility, was one of four people police say was killed Wednesday by Kurt Meyers, 64.
Police believe Myers set fire to his Mohawk home Wednesday morning before shooting four people — two fatally — at John’s Barbershop in Mohawk. He then killed two more people — including Renshaw, who was in his 40s, and employee Thomas Stefka — at Gaffey’s Fast Lube in Herkimer.
“It’s just one of those things where you can’t believe it’s going on in your hometown,” said Cassidy, who attended Herkimer High School with Renshaw and graduated a year after him in 1981. “I think he just went down to get his oil changed.
“He was a great person, was always happy, a good golfer and every time you saw him it was a big handshake with a big smile on his face,” he said. “I don’t know anyone who didn’t like him. He was one of those types of guys.”
Harry Montgomery, Sr., 68, of Mohawk, was at John’s Barbershop for a haircut Wednesday morning, his son said.
“My sister was at the bank cashing a check when she heard all the commotion,” said Montgomery’s son Harry Montgomery, Jr. “She came out to see what was going on and found out it was Dad who got shot.”
Montgomery, Sr. and Michael Rancier, 57, a Herkimer resident and a retired correction officer at Mohawk Correctional, were killed there.
“All of us at the New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association are deeply saddened to learn of the senseless and tragic deaths (of Renshaw and Rancier),” according to a statement of PBA.
John Seymour, owner of the barbershop, and Dan Haslauer, a customer, were in critical condition Wednesday evening at St. Elizabeth Medical Center.
Fellow barber Al Moretti, owner of Moretti’s Barber Shop in Herkimer, knows Seymour and was shaken by the news.
“He’s a barber; I’m a barber,” he said. “We were just talking on Monday. … I can’t believe what happened in a small town like Herkimer. It’s scary.”
