Grandmother Fatally Shot Mom On Upscale Manhattan Street Amid Custody Dispute: NYPD

A grandmother fatally shot her former daughter-in-law in an upscale New York City neighborhood, then killed herself amid a child custody dispute, authorities said.

Marisa Galloway, a 45-year-old mother of two girls, had just put her 1-year-daughter in the back seat of her white Honda Civic and was loading a stroller in the trunk about 9 a.m. Friday when Kathleen Leigh, 65, walked up and shot her in the head, Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said at a New York Police Department news conference Friday.

Leigh, a retired Chicago probation officer who had been living with family in New York City the past three years, shot Galloway again in the back while she was lying on the ground before turning the gun on herself, Kenny said, citing security video of the shootings that police had viewed.

Galloway died after being taken to a hospital, Kenny added.

Authorities said the 1-year-old in the car was unharmed. Galloway’s 4-year-old daughter, Leigh’s granddaughter, who was at the center of a custody battle between Galloway and Leigh’s son, was not present. Kenny said the girl’s father had custody of her from Friday to Monday.

Police didn’t immediately say whether Leigh’s son had any knowledge of his mother’s violent plan, but the New York Post reported that investigators believe she acted alone.

Kenny said that the NYPD had responded to five “domestic incident reports” and two other complaints concerning the custody dispute, which he said was ongoing. No one was arrested in any of the five incidents.

A neighbor told reporters that a Child Protective Services representative had contacted her about Galloway.

“She always talked about the fact that she had a former husband that was harassing the hell out of her. Because I had