Shivangi Sinha
In November 1976, when Donna DeMasi and her friend were shot at while standing near the gate of a house, the incident sent shockwaves through the community. Both girls were from Queens, New York, a neighborhood considered relatively safe, and the attack left residents feeling vulnerable. While the police managed to produce a sketch based on the incident, it wasn’t until similar attacks began surfacing that investigators connected the dots, realizing Donna and her friend had fallen victim to the now-infamous Son of Sam shooter. Netflix’s ‘Conversations With a Killer: The Son of Sam Tapes’ revisits this case in detail, offering an in-depth account of that harrowing night.
Donna DeMasi Was Outside Her Friend’s House When Someone Shot at Them
Donna DeMasi (also spelled DiMasi) was raised in the Floral Park neighborhood of Queens, New York. A student at Martin Van Buren High School, she enjoyed a typical teenage life. Like many girls her age, she loved going to the movies, which is what led her to make plans with her friend Joanne Lomino, who had graduated from the same school a year earlier. On the evening of November 26, 1976, the two friends went out, had an enjoyable time, and were walking back home when they stopped to chat on the front porch of Joanne’s house at 83‐31 262nd Street in Bellerose.
As the two girls stood on the porch a little past midnight, simply enjoying their time together, a man suddenly appeared on the lawn. Donna was the first to notice him. He began speaking in a high-pitched voice, asking for directions to an address. However, before he finished his sentence, he pulled out a gun and started shooting at them. Neither girl had a chance to escape. They were caught off guard and collapsed to the ground. The man then walked closer and fired about five shots in total before fleeing the scene. Joanne’s family, hearing the gunfire, rushed outside and immediately took the girls to the hospital.
Donna DeMasi Assisted the Police in Making a Sketch of the Suspect
Donna DeMasi sustained a gunshot wound to the neck and was admitted to the Long Island Jewish Medical Center, where she remained for about three weeks. Thankfully, her injuries were not life-threatening, though she had to wear a neck brace for some time, and she made a full recovery. Alongside Joanne Lomino, Donna assisted police in creating a sketch of their attacker. While it didn’t result in immediate leads, the sketch became a crucial part of the investigation and, combined with other evidence, ultimately contributed to the arrest of David Berkowitz. Donna described the shooter as a Caucasian male, aged between 25 and 30, wearing a brown or green three-quarter-length coat. Since the incident, she has kept a low profile, like many other survivors of the Son of Sam attacks, likely due to the case’s notoriety. It’s possible she moved on, got married, and built a life for herself and chooses not to be defined by a traumatic event from decades ago.
Read More: Sal Lupo: What Happened to the Son of Sam Survivor?
