Police: East Northport father fatally struck by stray bullet while visiting son at Marist College

A Suffolk County father was fatally shot at a Poughkeepsie hotel while visiting his son at Marist College.

News 12 Staff

Oct 4, 2022, 7:22 PM

Updated 789 days ago

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A Suffolk County father was fatally shot at a Poughkeepsie hotel while visiting his son at Marist College.
Police say 53-year-old Paul Kutz, of East Northport, was struck by a stray bullet when two homeless men opened fire at a Courtyard Marriott in Poughkeepsie on Sunday.
Police say 35-year-old Roy Johnson Jr. and 26-year-old Devin Taylor, who were staying at the hotel, have been arrested for the shooting.
Kutz was visiting his son during family weekend at Marist College and was staying at the hotel.
He was a certified public accountant in Great Neck.
Michael Licata is the superintendent in the building where Kutz and his brother own a CPA firm on Northern Boulevard in Great Neck. He says he's devastated that Kutz is gone.
“Just a wonderful man. I'm devastated by it,” Licata says. “When is this going to stop?”
Detectives say Johnson got into an argument with hotel workers and others in the lobby when he opened fire, striking Kutz.
Police say Johnson used a handgun in the shooting that was modified with a Glock switch that made it fully automatic and fired off more than two dozen shots inside and outside of the hotel.
Johnson is being charged with second-degree murder. He and Taylor were also charged with criminal possession of a weapon.
The Dutchess County Department of Community and Family Services says although the men were homeless, it didn't work with them. The county also confirmed that they did not place the two men in the Marriott Courtyard.
The case is expected to go before a grand jury Wednesday.