A quiet Long Island neighborhood was torn apart Wednesday morning when a 17-year-old boy allegedly fatally shot his 18-year-old ex-girlfriend, Emily Finn of West Sayville, then turned the gun on himself — only to survive. The harrowing incident unfolded just after 11:10 a.m. inside the teen’s family home on Shenandoah Boulevard North in Nesconset, NY, Suffolk County, police said. Authorities described the scene as heartbreaking: Emily was dead on arrival, and the boy was rushed to hospital in critical but stable condition.
Emily had reportedly come to return her ex-boyfriend’s belongings after a recent breakup. The exchange, meant to be benign, turned fatal. Police — specifically homicide detectives from the Suffolk County Police Department (SCPD) — confirmed that after shooting Emily, the 17-year-old turned the weapon on himself. His parents, who were at home at the time, immediately called 911.
When officers arrived, they found Emily unresponsive; she was pronounced dead at the scene. The suspect — whose name hasn’t been released because of his age — was transported to Stony Brook University Hospital, where he remains in critical but stable condition.
Authorities expect to charge the teen with second-degree murder once he is medically cleared; arraignment will come at a later date. Detectives noted that there was no prior domestic-violence history between the two and no previous 911 calls involving them — making the violence all the more shocking to neighbors.
Emily was a young woman at the start of her life: she had graduated from Sayville High School just this past June, and had recently started at SUNY Oneonta, where she planned to study Childhood/Elementary Education, with a minor in Dance. Her social-media accounts and local reporting show she had previously attended Cherry Avenue School (class of 2024) and at one point studied at a local ballet studio.
As word spread, expressions of shock, sorrow and disbelief grew across Nesconset and West Sayville — especially painful as the tragedy unfolded the day before Thanksgiving, a time meant for family and gratitude. Neighbors described the household as “typical,” community-oriented, and said they never expected something so tragic to happen in their midst.
The investigation remains ongoing. Police are carefully combing the crime scene, interviewing witnesses, and reviewing evidence to try to understand what might have driven the shooting — a split-second decision that left one young woman dead, another fighting for his life, and entire families forever changed.
In the quiet streets of Nesconset and West Sayville, a community mourns. A promising young life was ended prematurely, and questions remain — about grief, regret, and whether a simple act of returning belongings might ever truly be just that.
