Police still looking into father-son shooting

Posted at: 07/21/2012 11:42 PM

A case of mistaken identity leads to tragedy. State Police News10NBC a former Rochester Police officer accidentally shot and killed his adult son early this morning. It happened at the Clark Beach Motel in the town of Webb near Old Forge.

Police say 59-year-old Michael Leach shot his 37-year-old son Matthew Leach because he thought his son was an intruder.

The owner of the motel says he is also a paramedic for Old Forge ambulance and he was the one that responded to the call around 1 a.m. earlier today. He says they tried to resuscitate Matthew Leach for the 55 minute ride to the hospital but unfortunately they were not successful.

The owner of the motel, Dan Rivet, says he has known this family for years now and is devastated that he couldn't save Matthew Leach.

"I've been working with EMS for over 50 years and I've never had a tragedy like this happen," says Rivet. "I'm also a county coroner in my end of the county and I've seen a lot of things happen but this is just horrible. It's very very tragic. We worked hard to resuscitate him but we failed. We did our best."

Rivet says Leach suffered a gun shot wound to the right side of his back. A .45 caliver glock handgun issued to his father, Michael Leach, was used in the shooting. Police are still investigating the incident.

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