Man fatally shoots autistic son, then himself

By STEPHANIE FARR
Philadelphia Daily News

By all accounts - from neighbors and even those who didn't like him - Segundo Duque was a loving father to his 16-year-old autistic son, Fabian.

But yesterday morning, after Duque pulled a gun on his ex-girlfriend during a domestic dispute, police said, Duque, 61, shot his son to death in a minivan while an unwitting passenger watched.

Then, with his son's body in the car, Duque drove two miles then turned the gun on himself.

"He didn't garner too much respect from anybody, but you had to respect him because he loved his kid," said Louis Carrasquillo, whose mother used to be married to Duque. "Why he did that to his son, how he could do that to his son, I don't know."

Police said that there were indications that Duque, of Paul Street near Torresdale Avenue, in Frankford, was drunk early yesterday when he went to an ex-girlfriend's home on Orthodox Street, in Frankford, armed with a gun.

Duque pulled out a weapon during an argument with the woman, but she escaped unharmed, Homicide Sgt. William Gallagher said.

It's unclear what happened next but some time later, Duque and another woman, a 23-year-old who was not identified, were in his minivan with his son, police said. Duque was taking Fabian back to the Devereux Kanner Center, a special-needs overnight school in West Chester he attended, neighbors said.

But Fabian never made it there.

At Wyoming Avenue and H Street, in Juniata Park, Duque pulled over his van and shot his son once in the head in front of his female passenger, police said.

"She had no indication - she was unaware anything was going to happen," Gallagher said.

The woman, who was not hurt, fled on foot and called police.

With his dead son's body in the car, Duque drove to Sanger Street and Loretto Avenue, in Oxford Circle. He parked next to St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church and shot himself in the head shortly after 6 a.m., police said.

Neighbors said that his son's mother lived up the street from the church. She left her house about 7 a.m. and noticed the police activity but went to work unaware of what had happened, said a neighbor who asked not to be identified.

"She was herself," the neighbor said. "She didn't know at that point. And we didn't know it was her son down there."

The neighbor said that Fabian was "a good kid" who was to celebrate his 17th birthday. She said that they used to blow kisses back to each other from their porches.

Carrasquillo, whose mother separated from Duque before Fabian was born, said that his family was close with the teen, who used to play with his nephews.

"He was a beautiful child," Carrasquillo said. "He was the kid everybody in the neighborhood looked out for. We didn't see him as having autism. He functioned with us, communicated with us, not verbally, but in the way he'd point things out to you and in the way he'd play."

Fabian's mother's neighbors said that they'd see Duque come to pick his son up on a "consistent basis."

Carrasquillo didn't deny Duque's devotion to his son but said that Duque, a native of Ecuador who worked as a car salesman, was not a good man.

"He was just real nasty, very ignorant, a real bad disposition," he said. "But when it came to his son, it was a different story."

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