Shooting Victims Identified

According to First Assistant District Attorney Kevin Steele, Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman and Douglass Township Police Chief Barry L. Templin, Jr. identified the victims in last night’s shooting as:

Paul Shay, Monica Shay, Joseph Shay, Kathryn Erdmann and her son Gregory.

Joseph Shay, 43 of Yarmouth, Mass. and New York, N.Y.; and Gregory, 5, were shot in the head and killed. 

Kathryn Erdmann, 37 of Fall River, Mass. was also shot in the head and is in critical condition. 

The Renninger Road house owners Paul Shay, 64 and Monica Shay, 58 of New York, N.Y. are both hospitalized in critical condition. 

None of the surviving victims could speak to investigators.

Autopsies on the two murder victims are being conducted by the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office.

The Douglass Township Police Department and Montgomery County Detective Bureau initiated a joint murder investigation into the killings, which happened at 50 Renninger Road, Bechtelsville, Montgomery County on Saturday.

Douglass Township Police were dispatched for a reported shooting at a house on Renninger Rd. Upon arrival, police found five people had suffered gun shot wounds.

Anyone with information is asked to call Douglass Township Police at 610-367-0466 or Montgomery County Detectives at 610-278-3368.