An Ivy League administrator is dead after he fatally shot his 11-year-old daughter, the girl’s maternal grandmother, and himself in a tragic murder-suicide earlier this month.
Lawrence Mancuso, 53, was reportedly upset that his daughter Anne Mancuso was being cared for by her maternal grandmother while his ex-wife was out of town.
Brighton Police Chief David Catholdi said Mancuso called the police on Jan. 02 to discuss the custody issue and an officer responded to his questions.
“It was pretty benign, really. There’s nothing that would lead us to indicate that anything like this would happen,” Catholdi said.
The following day, Mancuso drove to the Hollyvale Drive home where he killed Anne and her grandmother, 74-year-old Mary Laccini, before he turned the gun on himself.
Police said Mancuso stopped at a liquor store and at a relative’s home where he stole “several firearms” before heading to the victims’ home. One of the weapons was used in the murder-suicide.
Mancuso had been the assistant dean for human resources at the Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations since 2022 but was on leave at the time of the incident.
“You can’t rationalize it. You can’t justify it. It doesn’t make sense. There’s no equation. There’s no formula. Sometimes there’s just evil,” Catholdi said.
