UPDATE: Monday, 7/23/12, 6 p.m. --- One of the paramedics that attempted to save Matthew Leach's life early Saturday morning is also the owner of the Clark's Beach Motel where the shooting took place.
Michael Leach, a retired R.P.D. Captain and part-time Perry Police Officer, shot and killed his son with his .45 caliber Glock handgun according to New York State Police. Leach was under the belief that his son was an intruder in the motel room they both shared.
Dan Rivet Jr. said the two were part of a motorcycle group that stays at his motel every couple years. Rivet, a paramedic for 51 years, tells 13WHAM News that he was informed of the shooting by a phone call and subsequent scanner call. He rushed to his motel where he, along with other emergency personnel, began CPR that would last for much of the 55-mile trip to the nearest hospital.
"For some reason, nobody knows why, his father whether he was having a nightmare or whatever he had his service revolver apparently in his room next to his bedside and he thought he was an intruder and shot him once in the back," Rivet Jr. said of the situation.
He said he understands this to be a tragic accident and he recalls seeing Michael Leach in the motel room when he first arrived on the scene.
"A Town of Webb police officer had shown up and he was speaking with him (Leach) in the back of the room and he was very, very distraught," Rivet recalled. "It was just a horrible, horrible tragic situation (and) we just felt so bad."
The Leach family has declined to comment on this incident and Michael Leach, at last check, remained in a hospital in the Utica area.
A receptionist with the Perry Police Department in Wyoming County told 13WHAM News that the chief would not be available until Tuesday and that he had no comment at this time.
***ORIGINAL REPORT BELOW***
