It's a modern-day Hatfields and McCoys. A feud between two rich neighbors in an influential neighborhood has ended in a shooting, with one dead and two critically injured.
The incident happened on Monday afternoon. A feud led to neighbor John Adamo to shoot both Jill and Tom Kwatkoski outside of their home on Drake Drive. He shot Tom while he was outside working before firing into the house and hitting Jill. He then barricaded himself in his own house before committing suicide.
According to the Ocean County Prosecutor's Major Crime Unit, Jill made the call to emergency responders. She screamed, "My neighbor! We got shot by our neighbor! 11 Drake Drive. Please hurry. Please get the cops here. I'm bleeding to death. 'I can't leave my kids. If I do, please tell them that I love them."
Following the shooting, authorities airlifted them to a nearby hospital. They are in stable condition. The shooting was a violent culmination of a feud between the two families. The Kwatkoskis had put up cameras and No Trespassing signs facing their neighbors. The signs called out the neighbors by name.
Feud Leads To Shooting
Before the shooting, Adamo had ripped down one of the cameras.
"My husband, I think he's dead outside and my leg is killing me," Jill said on the phone. "I'm in the left leg — my husband I think — at least 3 rounds. Oh my God.... It looks like a f****** rifle. It looked like a rifle. Please hurry."
Adamo committed suicide after a standoff with police. Police found him dead as well as a pressure cooker inside the home. It forced neighbors to evacuate, but later bomb squad determined it was not a bomb.
It'ss not the first time police responded to the feud.
"We're all friends in the neighborhood and, you know, we have parties together," Louie Pascalli told CBS News. "[There was] always friction, but never anything serious like this."
Neighbor Joe Spicciatie explained, "They've been in a longtime dispute. I don't know what brought it to that point. They have the cameras aimed at each other's houses, but in my book they were all nice."
Jill Stuart, a family friend, created a GoFundMe to helped the couple.
"We are reaching out to ask for your support for Tom and Jill, a loving couple and devoted parents to four boys, who are facing unimaginable challenges after a tragic shooting at their home," Stuart wrote. "Both Tom and Jill were victims of gun violence and are currently in the process of recovery. While the physical wounds will eventually heal, the emotional and financial toll on their family is significant, and their journey toward recovery is just beginning."
