‘Death List’ Found in Church Killings, Police Say

A man accused of opening fire during a church service and killing a priest and a 73-year-old parishioner had a “death list” of names in his apartment, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

Peter Troy, 34, an office clerk who took temporary jobs through an employment agency, looked dazed as he appeared in Nassau District Court, where he was ordered held without bail.

He did not speak and did not enter a plea to two charges of second-degree murder in the slayings of Father Lawrence Penzes, 50, and Eileen Tosner at Our Lady of Peace Church in Lynbrook on Tuesday.

The district attorney’s office said charges may be upgraded to first-degree murder, which would make Troy eligible for the death penalty if he is convicted.

He is also charged with attempted murder for allegedly lunging at an officer with a steak knife and slicing his protective vest during his arrest at a boarding house near the church.

Investigators have not determined a motive.

Troy is Roman Catholic but had no apparent connection to Our Lady of Peace, said Lt. Dennis Farrell, chief of the Nassau police homicide squad.

Prosecutors said Tory had left a handwritten note titled “Lynbrook Church Death List” inside his apartment.

“The list had a number of names on it,” said Fred Klein, a Nassau County assistant district attorney. Klein refused to disclose who was on the list but noted that neither shooting victim was included.

Troy had a history of psychiatric treatment, Klein said without elaborating. In February 2001, Troy was expelled from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan for “disciplinary problems,” said Doreen Vinas, a spokeswoman for the school.

Besides a .22-caliber rifle recovered at the church, Klein said a box of ammunition was found inside Troy’s car.

Police credited parishioner Gerard Denk, a former Marine who served in Vietnam, with helping prevent a greater tragedy.

After watching Troy pace up and down the center aisle of the church several times during Tuesday’s 9 a.m. service, Denk got up to see what he was doing.

Troy pulled out the rifle and fired two shots, which, Farrell said, police believe hit Penzes and Tosner.

As Troy was firing, Denk tackled him, Farrell said. Three or four more shots went off before Troy fled.

Farrell said Denk and off-duty Lynbrook police Lt. Gary Knacke, who was in the church, chased Troy to the boarding house where he rents a room.