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A man walked in on two burglars. Now they are dead and he is in jail.
By Rebekah Kuschmider — Written on May 31, 2019
When Ronald Stolarcyzk walked into his home on May 28, 2019, he did not expect to find a burglary in progress. But that is exactly what happened to Ronald Stolarcyzk. The Deerfield, New York man stumbled on two people attempting to steal from him. According to reports, this wasn’t the first time Stolarcyzk had been robbed in the past few weeks. This time, however, he caught the would-be thieves red handed. In an effort to defend his home, he shot them both. Now, two people are dead and Stolarczyk himself is in jail. What happened during this burglary gone wrong? Read on for all the details. Who is Ronald Stolarczyk?
1. Police report
According to a report from the New York State Police, the incident happened at 6110 Walker Road in the town of Deerfield in Oneida County. The report goes on to say: “Investigation suggests that at approximately 2:40 p.m., the homeowner, Ronald Stolarczyk interrupted a burglary and shot the two suspects with an illegally owned handgun.” The shots found their marks and Patricia Anne Talerico, age 57, was pronounced deceased at the scene. Her accomplice and nephew Nicholas A. Talerico, age 27, was taken to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Utica where he was pronounced dead by hospital staff.
Stolarczyk walked in on a burglary.
2. Gravely injured
Nicholas was gravely injured at the crime scene but was able to run from the home after being shot. Jack Keller of the New York State Police told local news channel WKYV that “He was able to get out, run to a neighbor across the street. They were able to assist him, get him to St. E’s as quick as possible. Unfortunately, he passed away at the hospital.”
Talerico tried to get help for his injuries.
3. Community panic
The shooting resulted in a cascade of law enforcement actions in the immediate area. One local school, Deerfield Elementary School, was placed on lockdown due to the police activity in the area. Students were finally released hours later, around 5pm. At that time, Keller, who was still in the process of identifying the shooting victims, told reporters, “There's, we believe, no danger to the public at this time. We’re still trying to piece together the whole timeline before the shooting and hopefully we're going to get some more information and we're asking if anybody does know any information certainly, people who may have passed by just before the shooting or lives in the area who has video, certainly we would like to hear from them.”
The homeowner did not know the burglars.
4. Identified
The police finally identified the burglars. They also discovered that the pair, who both lived in nearby Utica, New York, had been on a crime spree in recent weeks. Oneida County District Attorney Scott McNamara told WKTV station that "a search of the victim’s homes revealed that they had been conducting multiple thefts and storing the stolen goods in their home. Stolarczyk may have been a prior victim of the thieving pair; as he had reported a burglary two weeks before. A truckload of evidence was seized last night. At this point, we have to determine whether or not that was evidence that had been taken from this residence on a prior occasion," McNamara said. Both of the dead burglars had prior arrest records. Patricia had been arrested more than 20 times.
This was not the first time the pair had broken into the house.
5. Illegal gun
While some might hail the situation as a case of a homeowner using a handgun to defend himself and his property, it turns out that Stolarczyk was actually violating New York State gun laws. According to WKTV, the handgun initially belonged to Stolarczyk’s father who is deceased. The younger Stolarczyk kept the gun after his father’s death, but never properly registered it, as is required by law. After the thwarted burglary, he was arrested for “Criminal Possession of a Firearm, a class “E” felony” according to the report from the New York State Police Department.
Stolarczyk is only charged with criminal firearm possession.
As of May 29, Stolarczyk was being held in Oneida County jail for the shooting. New York State law does allow for use of force in the event of a home invasion and there is a provision for use of lethal force if that case. However, the situation is complicated due to the illegal possession of the firearm. It is unclear what penalties Stolaczyk may ultimately face.
Rebekah Kuschmider has been writing about celebrities, pop culture, entertainment, and politics since 2010. Her work has been seen at Ravishly, Babble, Scary Mommy, The Mid, Redbook online, and The Broad Side. She is the creator of the blog Stay at Home Pundit and she is a cohost of the weekly podcast The More Perfect Union.