WALLKILL — Members of the Town of Wallkill Police Department responded to calls about gun shots on May 8 around 10:34 p.m. near Buffalo Wild Wings on Rt. 211.

According to Police Chief Robert C. Hertman, when police arrived at the scene they encountered two men deceased in the parking lot.

The Wallkill Police Department says that Sean Armstead, 36, of Port Jervis and Edward Wilkins, 20, of Wurtsboro knew each other.

It’s been widely reported in various news outlets and publications that Wilkins, a security guard for Resorts World Catskills, was allegedly having an affair with Armstead’s wife, 35-year-old Alexandra Vanderheyden. Yet police have not released a motive for the shooting or elaborated on the relationship between the two men.

Armstead was an NYPD police officer who worked in the Bronx but was not on duty at the time of the incident.

According to Chief Hertman, immediately prior to the shooting, Armstead and Wilkins were both driving in separate vehicles when Armstead hit Wilkins’ vehicle causing a brief altercation before Wilkins fled to the Buffalo Wild Wings parking lot.

Police say that Wilkins fled when Armstead presented a Glock 9mm semiautomatic pistol and began firing. Wilkins was shot several times before Armstead turned the gun on himself.

Police say the pistol recovered at the scene was  Armstead’s NYPD service weapon.

Patrick Sause, a wrestling coach for Pine Bush schools, posted on the “Pine Bush Wrestling” page that Wilkins was a graduate of Pine Bush in 2020 and wrestled his senior year.

Sause praised Wilkins’ record in matches and his perseverance to defeat opponents that he had once lost to. Sause described Wilkins as someone with “a huge heart and would help any team member in anyway that he could.”

“His work ethic and willingness to try and improve everyday was something to admire,” the statement said.

There was an outpouring of love for Wilkins’ family on Facebook, who lost Wilkins on Mother’s Day. Wilkins’ father, Edward Wilkins Sr., also of Wurtsboro, has started a GoFundMe titled “help me get what little justice I can for Eddie.”

“Only weeks before his death I could hear him downstairs laughing while playing video games. The man who took his life also took his own limiting what justice could be had. I will now embark on what may be years of hell not only to bring the truth to the public for the sake of my son’s name but to hold the estate of his murderer financially responsible,” his father wrote on the GoFundMe page.

The page has already raised over $4,500 since it was started on May 17.

Wilkins’ father also expressed his and his wife, Kimberly’s, gratitude for the love and support they have received and said, “Going through this and seeing the kindness and the decency in people has been a light in the darkest times.”

The link for the GoFundMe page is https://gofund.me/ a54023ef.