{"id":381166,"date":"2026-10-23T22:21:36","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T22:21:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/381166\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T22:21:36","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T22:21:36","slug":"troubled-veteran-indicted-in-horrifying-queens-slaying-of-his-mom-and-sister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/381166\/","title":{"rendered":"Troubled veteran indicted in ‘horrifying’ Queens slaying of his mom and sister"},"content":{"rendered":"

A troubled military veteran<\/a> was indicted for the murder of his mother and sister, whom he shot to death<\/a> before setting their Queens home ablaze while the family\u2019s dog and cat remained trapped inside, officials said Friday.<\/p>\n

Kegan Thomas, 33, was charged in the indictment unsealed Friday with murder, attempted murder, arson, criminal possession of a weapon and cruelty to animals for the wild orgy of violence, which ended when he was wounded in an armed standoff with police on July 25.<\/p>\n

He faces life in prison without parole if convicted on the top charge, according to Queens District\u00a0 Attorney Melinda Katz.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe defendant killed his mother and sister in cold blood by shooting them to death,\u201d Katz said. \u201cHe then deliberately set a fire and caused an explosion inside of the family\u2019s home during a standoff with the police\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he emerged from the residence, he was carrying a shotgun and wearing a tactical vest. He approached responding police officers while holding the shotgun pointed in their direction and failed to comply with NYPD orders to put his hands up. He was shot by responding officers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NYPD<\/p>\n

Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News<\/p>\n

NYPD officers shot and wounded armed suspect Keegan Thomas at a Queens home on Ocean Crest Blvd. near Hartman Ln. in Far Rockaway on July 25. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Thomas shot his mother, Clemer Ponce, 66, and sister, Selena Ponce, 29, with a shotgun inside a bedroom in their first-floor apartment on Ocean Crest Blvd. near Hartman Lane in Far Rockaway around 11:55 a.m., prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

The suspect was unarmed, standing outside the home when police arrived, but ducked back into the apartment when officers approached him.<\/p>\n

As cops banged on the door, ordering Thomas to exit the building, an explosion erupted inside the victims\u2019 home and the apartment erupted in flames.<\/p>\n

Thomas exited a few seconds later, this time sporting a tactical vest and toting a shotgun, which he leveled at police, prosecutors said. He was shot when multiple officers opened fire after ordering him to drop his weapon.<\/p>\n

\"NYPD<\/p>\n

Obtained by Daily News<\/p>\n

NYPD officers shot and wounded armed suspect Keegan Thomas (center) at a Queens home on Ocean Crest Blvd. near Hartman Ln. in Far Rockaway, where two of the suspect’s relatives, including his mother (left), were found dead and a fire was started on July 25. (Obtained by Daily News)<\/p>\n

A pit bull-boxer mix was later found dead in the victims\u2019 living room and the remains of a kitten were discovered in their garage. Both animals died of smoke inhalation, according to a necropsy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis horrifying act of violence destroyed a family and left a community in shock,\u201d Katz said.<\/p>\n

Neighbors told the Daily News that Thomas was a veteran who had suffered from mental illness following his military service.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve met him twice. One time, I guess the mom introduced us, and she wanted, I guess, us to be friends, \u2019cause he didn\u2019t have any friends in the area,\u201d Pierre Mazile, 29, a neighbor who lived next door to Thomas, said. \u201cHe didn\u2019t really want any friends. He stated that himself. He didn\u2019t want to associate himself with anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NYPD<\/p>\n

Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News<\/p>\n

NYPD officers shot and wounded armed suspect Keegan Thomas at a Queens home on Ocean Crest Blvd. near Hartman Ln. in Far Rockaway, where two of the suspect’s relatives were found dead and a fire was started on July 25. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Mazile\u2019s wife, Genesis Jimenez, 27, who described herself as a family friend, had coffee and empanadas with both victims about 20 minutes before the gunfire began.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like if maybe I would have stayed a little longer, it was either I was gonna be another victim along with them, or I was just gonna stop the whole crime from happening,\u201d Jimenez said. \u201cI love them, even though they won\u2019t know it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cops had been alerted about the situation by Thomas\u2019 wife, who called 911 after hearing gunshots and discovering a body on a bed. Thomas\u2019 wife warned responding officers that Thomas had a mental illness and was armed, according to NYPD Chief Christopher McIntosh.<\/p>\n

\u201cKill, kill them, kill them,\u201d Thomas said, according to McIntosh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A troubled military veteran was indicted for the murder of his mother and sister, whom he shot to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381167,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[30018,18624,3109,139699,2441,95123,139698,9,24,63,122,124,123,112317,115939],"class_list":["post-381166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-double-shooting","tag-explosion","tag-far-rockaway","tag-keegan-thomas","tag-mental-illness","tag-military-veteran","tag-murder-indictment","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-shotgun","tag-tactical-vest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}