Shoveling Snow On 'Quiet Street' Leads To Murder-Suicide: Police

PLAINS TOWNSHIP, PA — Bergh Street doesn't normally get too much attention. Just a couple blocks long and in the corner of a neighborhood north of Wilkes-Barre bordering a wooded area, residents there say it's a quiet street where not a lot goes on.

That all changed on Monday morning, when much of the eastern United States was digging out of a major snowstorm.

A neighbor dispute over shoveling snow ended with the deaths of three people: James Goy; his wife, Lisa Goy, and Jeffrey Spaide, authorities in Luzerne County have said. Police and prosecutors have said Spaide fatally shot the Goys after the couple was shoveling snow off of their property and onto his. Spaide then shot himself to death while inside his own home as police arrived, authorities said.

Tyler Fisch, a Bergh Street resident, told WNEP the sight of police on the block for a double murder-suicide case is "pretty scary."

"You know right next door to us, so coming home to this, it's an odd feeling for this place," he told the news station. "It's really quiet. Not much goes on here. There's not much traffic."

Plains Township Police Chief Dale Binker also called Bergh a "quiet street."

"We never really had any problems here," he said during a news conference after the bodies were found.

The Goys were both found in the middle of the street, and Spaide in his home, police said.

Witnesses told them it started when Spaide become upset that the Goys were shoveling snow onto his property, according to a report from WILK, citing Luzerne County prosecutors.

James Goy then approached Spaide in the middle of the street while cocking his fist and threw an item at him, according to the report. Spaide went inside for a moment, with the Goys still yelling at him, came back out with a gun and shot both the Goys, the report states. He is alleged to have shot the couple again moments later before turning the gun on himself.

Witnesses have said there has been a history of disputes between Spaide and the Goys, according to the prosecutor.

The Goys leave behind a 15-year-old son with autism, WNEP reported. The boy will be taken care of by his grandparents.