NYPD cop's murdered mom was a psychic 'killed by her longtime client who believed she was a witch who'd put a CURSE on him after his gambling luck ran out'
- The man suspected of killing Anna Torres, 51, was a client who believed she had put a curse on him, a police source tells DailyMail.com
- The suspect has been named as 41-year-old Giuseppe Canzani
- He had had a run of bad luck in recent weeks including losing heavily while gambling
- Canzani has no criminal record and has never been in trouble with police
- Cops said he fled the scene, but turned himself in at the precinct an hour later
The man accused of fatally shooting the mother of an NYPD cop in Queens allegedly told police that she was his longtime psychic and that he killed her because he held her responsible for his recent string of bad luck, a police source has exclusively told DailyMail.com.
'The guy had been going to her for years, and he believes she put a curse on him,' the inside source said.
'He's had bad luck for the past couple weeks, including with gambling. He went to her house and shot her.'
The suspect, 41-year-old Giuseppe Canzani, allegedly confessed to killing Anna Torres, 51, when she answered the door to her house in the Ozone Park area on Wednesday afternoon. She did psychic readings from her home.
'This was a guy who had never been arrested, never been in trouble,' the source continued. 'Afterward, he went to the police station and got out of a car with a gun in his hand.
'There was some thought initially that he might have been trying to commit suicide by cop. An officer told him not to move, to put the gun down, and he did. He came in and confessed.'
Anna Torres, 51, pictured here, the mother of an NYPD officer, was shot in her Queens home on Wednesday afternoon
Giuseppe Canzani, 41, (above, center) was led away from the 106th precinct in Ozone Park, Queens, by police on Thursday afternoon
The source said there's no indication Canzani knew Torres' son is a police officer.
'There's no connection to the son, the source said. 'We don't even think the guy knows the woman's son is a cop.'
A source told the New York Post that Canzani admitted to police that he shot Torres about an hour after the murder, and insisted that she was a 'witch.'
'Yeah, that's the woman I shot,' Canzani told police, 'They tried to kill me.'
'If I tell you what's going on with me you wouldn't believe it,' he allegedly told detectives, 'Not for nothing, I am supposed to be dead already, that's all I know. This woman, you guys will never understand. You would think I'm crazy.'
Surveillance footage shows Giuseppe Canzani, 41, leaving the scene of the crime with a gun in hand on Wednesday afternoon
Canzani was a longtime client of Torres, who worked as a psychic out of her Queens home
Canzani told police that Torres was a 'witch,' and that he killed her because he thinks she put a curse on him
The source also told the Post that Canzani had gotten into an argument with Torres outside her home in recent days.
The Queens Chronicle reported that Canzani is an employee of the NYC Department of Transportation. A representative of the NYC DOT told DailyMail.com that an employee named Giuseppe Canzani was suspended without pay on Thursday.
Torres died after being shot in the head in a brazen daytime ambush when she answered the door to her home.
She was shot twice on Wednesday. The suspect initially fled the scene then surrendered.
Cops say Torres and Canzani knew each other 'to some extent,' the Post reported, but had ruled out a romantic relationship.
Torres' husband, David Aguilar, told reporters that he did not know the suspect.
'Never heard that name before,' Aguilar, told CBS New York.
'He smashed my world,' he said.
Aguilar said that his wife was at home taking care of her bedridden mother with her daughter-in-law when she was murdered.
'She was the sweetest person in the world, I'm lost without her.'
He said he found out about his wife's murder when he saw the reports on the news while he was at work.
Anna Torres' husband, David Aguilar, broke down speaking to reporters about his wife's murder on Thursday. 'I'm lost without her,' he said, and described her as 'the sweetest person'
Aguilar told reporters that he had never heard of the suspect in his life. He said that the police have not told him anything Canzani has said about what motivated the murder
Aguilar described his wife as somebody who was loved by everyone, and said she did not have a bad bone in her body. 'She didn't deserve this. I wish it was me,' he told reporters
Anna Torres (center) with her family during a 2016 birthday outing. Her husband, David Aguilar, stands behind her
Cops said the mother answered the door at her home at around 2.30 p.m. in Queens' Ozone Park neighborhood. They said the suspect fired three shots - two of which hit Torres, with one striking her head. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Officers said the suspect then fled in a black Chevrolet, before pulling up outside the NYPD's 106th Precinct in the same vehicle at 3:30 p.m. - around an hour after the shooting - to hand himself in.
Surveillance footage from Torres' street recorded at the time of the shooting shows a man with a hoodie over his face walking calmly down the sidewalk.
He carries what appears to be a silver gun in his right hand, before slipping onto the street between two cars, then entering a parked SUV and driving away.
NYPD Deputy Chief Jerry O'Sullivan told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday night that when Canzani surrendered he got out of his car and placed a 45-caliber silver firearm on the sidewalk outside the precinct, before being arrested by two NYPD officers without incident.
The deputy chief said the suspected shooter would be charged with murder and the criminal possession of a weapon.
Torres worked as a psychic at her home in Queens (above). Canzani was a client who believed she had put a curse on him, a police source tells DailyMail.com
A wreath was placed on the front door of Torres' home in Ozone Park. She was murdered while answering the front door pictured above
A neighbor who lived across the street said he heard gunshots and then a woman screaming.
'Right after you heard the 'bop-bop-bop' you heard screaming.'
'After that I heard [a family member] calling the cops, yelling out the address.'
Officials did not announce any suspected motive behind the killing when they announced Canzani's arrest.
Police added that the killing is not suspected to have been connected to Torres' son's employment with the NYPD, saying they had 'no reason to believe that this incident occurred because of his employment with the police department.'
Friends and family shared their support and love for Torres on social media.
'The world lost an extraordinary woman yesterday,' Anna's brother, Jose Torres, wrote in a Facebook post, 'May you rest in Heavenly peace... We will all be reunited someday.'
The suspect has been named as 41-year-old Giuseppe Canzani according to the New York Post
In a briefing on Wednesday, NYPD Deputy Chief Jerry O'Sullivan told reporters that there was no reason to believe that Torres' killing was linked to her son's employment with the NYPD
The mother of an NYPD officer has died after being shot in the head in a daytime ambush when she answered the door to her Queens home. Pictured: The home of Anna Torres, 51, is shown in Queens taped off by yellow police tape
Cops cross through the police line on Torres' street on Wednesday
Anna Torres, 51, was shot twice on Wednesday by a suspect who cops said has since surrendered, having initially fled the scene. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Pictured: An ambulance is seen outside of her home on Wednesday
New York City police and investigators swarmed the neighborhood after the shooting
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