Woodbury Police Chief: Horseplay and alcohol led to fatal shooting

HIGHLAND MILLS - Woodbury Police have charged a 23-year-old Highland Mills man in the fatal shooting of his friend during an early morning party last Sunday. “When you mix horseplay, firearms and alcohol, bad things are going to happen,” said Woodbury Police Chief, Robert Kwiatkowski commenting on the death of 32-year-old Fredy Hahn of Monroe. The chief described the incident this way: Seven people were at a party in the home of Sean Canty, 23, on Jones Drive early last Sunday morning. Canty’s parents were away on vacation in South Carolina. During the party, the chief said, Canty got up and went into another room to retrieve his father’s firearm, a Glock pistol. The young man’s father is a retired lieutenant with the New York City Police Department. “Canty was showing the firearm to others and passing it around,” Kwiatkowski said in an interview Monday. “During the horseplay, Canty pointed the gun at his friend’s head - the round went off and killed him,” Canty has been charged with criminal negligent homicide and reckless endangerment, both felonies. Initially sent to Orange County Jail, Canty has since been released on $50,000 bail. Police have interviewed all those at the party. Woodbury Police Investigator Erik Johnson said the people involved can’t believe what happened. “They said Canty and Hahn were friends for ten-plus years,” he said. Statements from the witnesses have been sent to the Orange County District Attorney’s office for Grand Jury action, Kwiatkowski said. The New York State Police Forensic Unit processed the crime scene. Also assisting at the scene with the Woodbury Police Department was the State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI). - Claudia Wysocki Fredy Hahn’s obituary appears on page 16.