The New Jersey man who shot and killed his two sleeping sons, then himself, was buckling under the pressure of a failed business, officials said yesterday.
“We’re pretty confident that’s what this is all about,” said Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli. “What brings a man to shoot his own sons?” Cops say Thomas Frazza, 46, killed his sons, Kevin, 14 and John, 20, in their Washington Township home as they slept in their rooms. He then went down to the basement and fatally shot himself.
Frazza had run a payphone installation business in Belleville with his brother Luke that shuttered a few years ago, neighbors said.
Luke’s wife, Paula Frazza, said Thomas didn’t show any signs of depression or suicide.
“We’re all in shock, the family’s in shock,” she said. “He was a wonderful man and a great father, and they’re all gone now.” Frazza didn’t leave a note, so yesterday investigators went through his home and looked into his computer records to find clues about why he went over the edge.
His wife Betty and their 19-year-old daughter were at a summer home in Brigantine, near Atlantic City, at the time of the killings.
Molinelli said they were selling that summer home, which went on the market about two weeks ago for about $1 million, because they needed the money.
“It would seem that his business was in serious condition. That was something that was known and at the heart of discussion among the family members,” said Molinelli.
Joyce Campbell, the tax collector for Washington Township, said Frazza didn’t appear to have any cash-flow problems.
“There were no liens, everything was paid in a timely matter and there was no interest on anything,” Campbell said.
“Like everyone, I’m completely shocked at what could have thrown him off.” Chief of Police William Cicchetti said he was a patrolman when the last murder rocked tony, suburban, quiet Washington Township – in 1985.
Friends of Kevin Frazza who came to a vigil outside the Frazzas’ home said the father used to coach middle-schoolers in a basketball league.
“Kevin was always optimistic, he never let anything get him down. His dad was a really cool guy, he always seemed proud of his sons,” said classmate Steve DeNola, 14.