The most unimaginable tragedies – of which we seem to be experiencing more than our share both nationally and locally – also come with the public’s insatiable desire to see coverage of them in the media.
One Tarrytown resident who lives in the neighborhood of the Rebello family, mourning the sudden loss of 21-year-old Andrea in a home invasion on Long Island, wrote on Facebook’s 10591 page that she was also “saddened by the news vans.”
“I hope for peace for the family and that they are shown respect by the media,” Lind Porcelli wrote.
Others chimed in in agreement. “Give the family their privacy to mourn,” Jillian Rauer said.
Do you think the news media needs to back off at such times, or does the public itself?
Another resident Kelly Murphy wrote, “Lets remember they only do it cuz they have an audience watching! So if no one watches it then they don't have an audience.”
Funeral services for Andrea Rebello have been set, reportedly in her native Portuguese, for Wednesday. Visitation will be at Tarrytown's Coffey Funeral Home on Tuesday from 4 to 8 p.m. Her mass will be Wednesday at 10 a.m. at St. Teresa of Avila Church with interment to follow in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.
Rebello's full obituary is posted on Patch here.
Rebello was shot early Friday morning in a home invasion of the off-campus apartment she shared at Long Island's Hofstra University with her twin sister and two other sorority sisters. Her twin sister was not injured; the suspect was killed.
It was unclear at first whose shots killed Rebello and the intruder, who has now been named as Dalton Smith. According to police, Smith, 30, of Hempstead, entered the victim's home at 2:28 a.m. He held three female victims and one male victim hostage. Police responded, and an ensuing shootout led to the two deaths.
It was later revealed that Rebello died by a police bullet, as reported in the Garden City Patch on Long Island.
CBS News reported Monday:
Rebello and the intruder were both killed after a split-second decision by the Nassau County police officer, authorities said. Police said Rebello was being held in a headlock by a masked intruder when the officer fired eight times, one shot hitting Rebello in the head.
"The big question is, how do you know, when someone's pointing a gun at you, whether you should keep talking to them, or shoot?" said Michele Galietta, a professor of psychology at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice who helps train police officers. "That's what makes the job of an officer amazingly difficult."
Sleepy Hollow High School principal Carol Conklin-Spillane, who knows the twins who graduated from here in 2010, told the Associated Press Monday, "My heart goes out to everyone. You have to empathize with the police officer. He's dealing with the consequences of a split-second decision."
Henrique Santos of Eastchester, Rebello's godfather, was reportedly standing outside the Rebello's home in Tarrytown, handing out this statement from this family:
We are heartbroken and overwhelmingly devastated by the loss of our beautiful daughter, Andrea. We are grateful for all of the kindness and sympathy shown to our family. In our grief, we ask for privacy as we try to make sense of all that has happened.
Like us on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter | Sign up for our newsletter
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
