The shooter in a horrific Bronx triple-murder-suicide had been in and out of prison for decades on gun and drug charges — and was just hours away from having his most recent weapon case dismissed in court when he died, the Daily News has learned.
After killing the three victims, Kaseem Stukes, 44, was caught on a NYCHA surveillance video stepping out of the family’s apartment in the Castle Hill Houses about 8:15 a.m. Wednesday to leave a chilling voicemail for his 20-year-old son in North Carolina.
“Check on your family,” he told his son before stepping back in the apartment on Lacombe Ave. near Castle Hill Ave. and fatally shooting himself, police sources said.
The son reached out to the mother of one of Stukes’ children, who called friends, asking them to check on the apartment.
Stukes was found shot dead near the couch, his gun still in his hand. His 75-year-old mother, Theresa Stukes, and his 26-year-old daughter, Kianna Stukes, a healthcare worker, were found dead in the rear of the apartment.
Kianna’s boyfriend, 33-year-old Andrew Reynoso, was dead near the home’s front door.
Kaseem, Kianna and Theresa all lived in the apartment, while Reynoso lived in the Norwood section of the cops, according to cops.
Cops were called to the scene about 9:45 a.m., around 90 minutes after Kaseem’s call to his out-of-state son.
Several neighbors encountered Kaseem in public areas of the complex around the time of the killings.
“(He seemed) scared. Agitated. Crying, like weird,” one tenant, who declined to give his name, told News 12 Bronx.
“Take care of your family,” the tenant says Kaseem told him. “You’re not going to see me anymore.”
That same morning, Kaseem was seen heading up to the 11th floor to visit a friend but his buddy wasn’t home.
“Sorry we couldn’t hang out,” he was overheard saying by building resident Lulu Anderson, who recounted the incident to WABC Eyewitness News. “See you in the next life.”
Kaseem’s history with firearms was well documented. In 2003, he was arrested for selling cocaine and crack outside a NYCHA complex.
He was convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison but his sentence was reduced to seven years when he appealed the sentencing.
After he was arrested, Kaseem was added to NYCHA’s “Not Wanted” list, prohibiting him from entering any NYCHA complex, according to agency records.
In 2013, while out on supervised release, he was arrested for tossing a gun from a car window while driving recklessly to flee police. He ultimately pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years in prison.
During follow up hearings on his sentence, when he was assigned drug treatment, a judge asked him if he needed any mental health treatment as well.
“No, I don’t want it,” he told the judge at the time. “I don’t need it.”
On the day of the massacre, Kaseem was expected to appear in Bronx Criminal Court, where the Bronx District Attorney’s office was going to announce they were moving to dismiss charges against him for an incident on Sept. 14, 2024, where he slammed his vehicle into a row of parked cars and fired off a gun at an angry mob that assembled.
Kaseem managed to flee the scene but cops arrested him in May, charging him with gun possession and reckless endangerment.
After he claimed he pulled his weapon to defend himself and the gun went off accidentally a grand jury failed to indict him on the charges, a law enforcement source said.
A judge gave Bronx prosecutors time to gather more evidence but witnesses to the confrontation declined to cooperate, the source said. At the hearing scheduled for Wednesday, prosecutors were going to announce they were no longer pursuing the charges, the source said. The charges would then be formally dropped in December.
Theresa, who just celebrated her 75th birthday on Oct. 30, was a fixture at the Castle Hill Houses and was known as one of the complex’s “Golden Girls,” tenants and friends said.
“We grew up with each other,” longtime friend Henry Tucker, who lives in Theresa’s building, told The News Wednesday. “I loved her family. Obviously, it’s devastating what happened to her and her family … She watched me grew up. I watched her age well. Her family is like my family. Her children, her grandchildren, we had a genuine love for each other. A wonderful woman”
Tucker said he’s known Kianna since she was born.
“She was very quiet, always respectful,” he said. “Very kind and gentle. She was definitely a sweetheart. Nothing negative I could say about her, from birth.”
Tucker even knew Kaseem, who he believed had turned his life around after prison.
“If anything was going on, he put on a good front,” Tucker said. “That’s definitely what’s making it even more troubling. I just never got the feeling that he was headed down this path.”
“I’m like everyone else, in shock,” he added. “(Theresa) did not deserve this. Her family did not deserve this. It’s just tragic all around.”
With Emma Seiwell, Julian Roberts-Grmela and Sheetal Banchariya
