Chief in shock at mass killer parole
THE RETIRED NYPD police chief who adopted the lone survivor of the notorious Palm Sunday Massacre said Sunday that she couldn’t believe the gunman had been released on parole.
Joanne Jaffe — until last year the highest-ranking female police chief in the NYPD — was among the first responders to the horrific crime scene at a home in East New York, Brooklyn, in 1984.
Out of his mind on cocaine, Christopher Thomas had shot and killed eight children and two women. Only an 11-month-old toddler named Christina survived.
The baby ended up in Jaffe’s arms — 14 years later, Christina would move in with the officer.
Jaffe (photo inset) formally adopted Christina in 2013.
It emerged Friday that Thomas had been released from prison on parole in January.
“This guy killed 10 people and I can’t believe he is free. But he is free and I hope he’s rehabilitated,” Jaffe told the Daily News.
She said she was reluctant to speak at length about Thomas’ release out of respect for Christina, who had not yet spoken publicly about the killer’s freedom.
“I never thought back then that he would get out,” said Jaffe, who was the community affairs chief.
“I didn’t think he would get out from murdering 10 people.”
Asked if she had anything to add, Jaffe had only one message: “I love my daughter dearly.”
Efforts to reach Thomas, 68, were unsuccessful.
He was convicted of manslaughter instead of murder because the jury found that he’d carried out the massacre under the influence of drugs and extreme emotional distress.
The ex-con was addicted to freebase cocaine for two years before committing one of New York’s most notorious mass shootings. Cops arriving at the bloodbath found the television on and one victim holding a spoon in her hand. Christina was on the floor covered in blood.
All the victims were shot in the head at close range, cops said.
Thomas was linked to the massacre about a month later — while he was in custody for allegedly sodomizing and attempting to rape his mother.
He also served three years in prison after a 1970 attempted murder conviction.
A judge gave Thomas 10 sentences of 81/3 to 25 years in prison for a total of 83 to 250 years, telling him he should serve “every single day, hour and minute.”
But state law maxed out the sentence at 50 years, making Thomas eligible for release after serving two-thirds of that time, along with credit for good behavior.
The state law governing release for good behavior has since changed. Under current rules, Thomas wouldn’t have been eligible until he’d served six-sevenths of his sentence.