NYPD officers shot and wounded armed suspect Keegan Thompson at a Queens home where two of the suspect’s relatives were found dead and a fire was started on Saturday, July 25, 2026. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News, Facebook)
(Tribune News Service) — Keegan Thomas, the 33-year-old military veteran accused of killing his mother and sister and setting off an explosion in their Queens, N.Y., home has been charged, police said Tuesday.
Thomas, who was shot by police as he came out of the building after the carnage, was charged with murder, attempted murder, arson, and weapons possession. He was also charged with aggravated animal cruelty, as a dog and a cat died in the blaze.
Police said that just before noon Saturday he shot dead his mother, Clemer Ponce, 56, and sister, Selena Ponce, 28, in their home on Ocean Crest Blvd. near Hartman Lane in Far Rockaway.
When police showed up, they tried talking to Thomas, who had barricaded himself inside the home, but a large explosion inside the garage engulfed the house in flames, police said, and Thomas ran out of the home armed with a shotgun.
The officers on scene opened fire, wounding him.
Neighbors said Thomas was a veteran who suffered from mental illness after his military service ended.
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