Hampton Bays Shooting Deaths ‘Accidental’ 

The Town of Southampton and Suffolk County police departments, along with the county’s medical examiner’s office, have determined the shooting death of a Hampton Bays couple early last month was not a murder-suicide, as had been suggested in some media reports at the time.

Jonathan Fava, 26, the owner of the house at 49 Ponquogue Avenue where the shooting occurred, and Kelly Lynn Bray, 25, died at area hospitals. Southampton Town Police Chief Steven Skrynecki talked about the investigation with The Independent on April 24.

Police had received a 911 call from a distraught woman reporting the shooting a little before midnight March 4. The woman was an acquaintance of the engaged couple, and parents to an infant. The acquaintance fully cooperated with the police during the investigation, Skrynecki said. While the chief would not say if the woman was in the room with the couple when the gun went off, he did say that woman consistently told police she “heard one shot.”

The child was in the home at the time of the shooting, in another room, and now is in the custody of a relative.

Skrynecki said the weapon involved was an unregistered Glock semi-automatic pistol. He said the couple was drinking alcohol when the incident occurred. While the police chief said it was impossible to absolutely determine whether or not the shooting was intentional, investigators now believe that both Bray and Fava thought the Glock was not loaded when the trigger was squeezed.

A single bullet entered and exited one of the victims before becoming lodged in the other, causing the death of both. Skrynecki would not say where on the bodies the bullet struck.

“Once again, we see the danger here, tragically, of mixing alcohol and guns,” Skrynecki said.

Police have been unable to trace the gun to its original owner.

“The gun does not have a footprint,” the chief said. Besides the pistol, police said they found several long guns in the house at the time.

t.e@indyeastend.com