Suspected shooter Kim Wolfe could get 25 years to life

Investigators seek answers to why an off-duty corrections officer allegedly went on an early-morning shooting rampage that resulted in two deaths, including a staff member at the Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow.

Kim Wolfe, 43, of North Babylon was arraigned on Thursday morning and faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life. She was charged with two counts of murder in the second degree, kidnapping in the second degree and assault in the first degree. Judge Terence Murphy ordered Wolfe held without bail on the murder charges and set bail at $500,000 cash or bond on the additional charges. Officials said she is being held in a Suffolk jail instead of where she worked at the Nassau County Correctional Center.

According to Nassau police, Wolfe began her path of destruction during a visit with Stacie Williams, a patient care assistant at the NUMC. Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey said that a meeting had been pre-arranged between the two women, who police believed had an “intimate relationship.

Wolfe delivered food to Williams, who was on her break at about 1:30 a.m., as they met near an employee-only entrance on the west side of the hospital, investigators said. Shortly thereafter, there was an argument, police said, and Wolfe shot Williams multiple times. Though police responded to the report of a staff member lying outside on the ground at about 1:35 a.m., detectives said Wolfe was on her way to Hempstead. Meanwhile, Williams was rushed to the Emergency Department, where she was pronounced dead at about 2:05 a.m.

“Ultimately we believe it was over relationship issues,” said Lt. Det. John Azzata, commanding officer of Nassau’s Homicide Squad.

Within about 30 minutes of her confrontation with Williams, Wolfe arrived at a home where family members lived at 56 Vermont Street in Hempstead. A discussion with her grandfather, Marshall Williams, Sr.,  — no relation to Stacie Williams — got heated, police said, and she pulled out her gun. When Wolfe’s uncle, Michael Williams, 56, interceded, she shot him in the chest, and then shot her 88-year-old grandfather in the leg, detectives said.

The commotion in front the multiple-dwelling Hempstead home caused other relatives to go outside. Wolfe then decided to take her 23-year-old niece hostage, and fled in a Mitsubishi Montero, police said. She remained in touch over the phone, informing relatives that she was headed toward Atlantic City, police said, and at one point a Hempstead police officer answered.