A DOCTOR has killed her four-month-old baby and then turned the gun on herself while her husband was away.
Krystal Cascetta, a 40-year-old oncologist in New York City, shot her only child at around 7am on Saturday in their Westchester County home north of the city.
She went into her baby's room, shot the child, and then herself, New York State Police said.
Police said the scene was consistent with a murder-suicide.
While police have not released the identity of the baby, an online baby registry suggested that the child was only four and a half months old, the Rockland/Westchester Journal News reports.
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The infant was a girl and the sole child of Cascetta, police told the outlet.
Cascetta's husband, Timothy Talty, a 37-year-old food executive, was not home at the time, according to the outlet's sources.
However, officials told the outlet that Cascetta's parents were inside the home when the shootings occurred.
The motive is still unclear.
Cascetta was a hematology-oncology specialist in the Mount Sinai Health System, serving as site chief of the Mount Sinai Queens Infusion Center and an assistant professor at Mount Sinai's Icahn School of Medicine.
She lived in a $1million home in the Granite Springs area, according to the Daily Mail, with her husband, the founder of the energy bar company Talty Bar.
Cascetta's friends stood by her, paying tribute to her life on Facebook.
One friend, Eri Barr said he was "devastated" to hear the news of Cascetta's death.
"She was my friend at Albany Med and residency. I always looked up to her," Barr wrote in a post.
Another Facebook user who knew Cascetta, Maureen Daly, shared some kind words.
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"You were caring and very compassionate to your patients. I will miss our talks, May you and your child RIP!!!!" Daly wrote.
One of Cascetta's patients, writer Kambri Crews called her death a "shocking and terrible tragedy."
"I don't know what was happening in her life that she felt this was the best end to her story but I know a large community of survivors, patients and colleagues are broken-hearted," Crews wrote on Facebook.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988 or chat on 988lifeline.org. You can also text HOME to 741741 for Crisis Text Line.
