By Elizabeth Doran
Syracuse Media Group
UTICA, N.Y. — Two New York state corrections officers at Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County are dead after a murder-suicide in Utica, police said today.
A third corrections officer was injured, but is expected to survive, Utica police said.
The shootings occurred shortly after midnight, when a corrections officer entered a female corrections officer’s home in Utica, confronted her and shot a man who was with her, who was also a corrections officer, Utica police said.
The man abducted the woman, forcing her into his car. He then drove her to another residence. After a four-hour standoff in which Utica police, Oneida County sheriff’s deputies and state police tried to communicate with Conkling, police entered the residence and found the two dead, said Utica Lt. Bryan Coromato.
The man, who was shot in the head in the first residence, survived, police said.
Other media reports today incorrectly reported three people were dead.
Utica police said the incident appeared to be a love triangle, but were working to confirm that. The shooter appears to be the ex-fiance of the woman, police said, although it’s believed they had been apart for some time.
Police identified the shooter as Christopher J. Conkling, 38, of Utica, and the female as Heather J. Mock, 35, also of Utica.
The male victim, who suffered a gunshot wound to the head, is Andrew J. Pruitt, 33, of Utica.
Police said Mock’s mother, who was in the house at the time, confronted Conkling but then ran upstairs away from him and called police.
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