The father who died with his son in a suspected murder-suicide in a Limerick road crash yesterday was described as a “very quiet person” who “kept to himself”.
Marco Velocci (28) “was never in trouble with anyone . . . He loved his dogs, and shooting and fishing”, his close friend Jonathan Ryan said.
Mr Ryan and locals in the village of Velocci’s native Oola were “completely and utterly shellshocked” at the death of the tradesman and his son Alex (3) in the head-on collision with an articulated lorry.
Shortly before the crash, Velocci’s former partner Jodie Power had sustained non-life threatening injuries after Velocci called to her house in Oola. Velocci then left in his car with the boy and they died after veering to the wrong side of the road.
Velocci was born in Ireland. His father, Onorio, is from Italy and worked for most of his life in chip shops in Limerick city.
Velocci had been living in Lattin, Co Tipperary, since splitting up with Ms Power two years ago.
Velocci “loved his son” Mr Ryan said. “There was no badness whatsoever in the man . . . He never had a bad word to say about anyone.”
“He loved his family . . . did everything for them . . . He was a good friend to all of us,” he said. Velocci was a member of the Emily Lattin Cullen Oola (ELCO) gun club. “He was a great man for gun dogs, fishing, hunting sports, ” Mr Ryan said.
Numbness
Bill O’Donnell, a neighbour of Velocci’s parents in Oola, said there was a numbness around the village which would stay with people for a long time. “It’s unbelievable, people are just walking around in shock, it’s terrible,” he said.
“He was such a lovely young lad.”
Fianna Fáil councillor Noel Gleeson said the entire community was devastated.
“It is particularly sad as both sets of grandparents live close to one another so the entire community is just shocked and devastated for all concerned,”he said.