Sean Armstead, 36, is the NYPD cop who shot his wife’s lover and then himself Sunday
Investigators probing a suspected murder-suicide in upstate New York believe the gunman was a jealous NYPD cop who gunned down a love rival outside a Buffalo Wild Wings before turning the weapon on himself.
DailyMail.com has learned that off-duty officer Sean Armstead tailed his 35-year-old spouse, Alexandra Vanderheyden, and her 20-year-old suspected lover Edward Wilkins to a La Quinta hotel on the opposite side of a parking lot to the Buffalo Wild Wings.
The pair jumped in their car to flee but the veteran cop sped after them in his grey Dodge Charger and slammed into them right outside the bar.
A guest at the neighboring Super 8 hotel said she heard the smash and saw two men emerging from the cars, one chasing the other.
After a volley of gunshots, the younger man slumped to the floor in a parking spot.
‘I heard eight shots. The cop shot him multiple times until he was dead,’ said the shaken guest, who would only give her first name, Jennifer.
‘Then the cop, in shooting himself, landed on top of the body. They were both on top of one another in the same spot in a pool of blood.
‘The woman was screaming and running in and out of Buffalo Wild Wings. She was crying hysterically, it looked like she was going to pass out.
‘People were still there cleaning up the blood at 4:30am.’
DailyMail.com has learned that off-duty officer Sean Armstead tailed his wife Alexandra Vanderheyden and a man he suspected she was having an affair with as they drove through Wallkill, 80 miles north of New York City late on Sunday night. Armstead and his wife are pictured together
Police at the home of Police officer Sean Armstead in Port Jervis, New York, after he killed his wife’s lover and turned the gun on himself
A police detective was seen roping off the front of NYPD Officer Armstead’s driveway with police tape Monday morning
Off-duty NYPD officer Sean Armstead tailed his wife and a man he suspected she was having an affair with Sunday night
Armstead’s wife was not thought to have been harmed in the shooting that unfolded around 10:40pm. The couple’s marital $450,000 home in Port Jervis, 40 miles from Wallkill, was being guarded by multiple police cars Monday morning.
Vanderheyden, who grew up in Illinois and runs her own dog walking business, was being comforted today by family.
She told investigators she believes that Armstead tracked her through her cell phone.
Wilkins’ loved ones gathered at his home in nearby Mamakating, New York but declined to comment when approached by DailyMail.com.
Vanderheyden told investigators she believes that Armstead tracked her through her cell phone
A front desk worker at La Quinta said she was not allowed to discuss the harrowing incident.
The Town of Wallkill Police Department said in a statement that officers responded to a report of a shooting at 567 Route 211 East at 10:34pm Sunday.
‘Upon arrival, officers discovered two deceased males in the parking lot,’ the statement said. The first victim was identified as Armstead, 36, and the second, Wilkins, of Wurtsboro, New York.
‘A Glock 19 handgun and several…
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