Mother in Staten Island killings was 'proud to be American'

“I still can’t believe it, because I saw the president and he said that he was proud of me,” the woman, Alla Victorovna Ausheva, told a reporter after the ceremony. “That’s of course unbelievable.”

Seven years later, her American dream ended in tragedy when she and her two young children were found dead in their Staten Island home.

On Sunday, the father of the children, Shane R. Walker, 36, was arrested on murder, arson and weapons charges, according to the police.

Walker had been arrested in December and charged with assaulting Ausheva, the police said. She obtained a protective order against him, but it was no longer in effect when she and the children were found Saturday morning, the police said.

The incident stunned neighbors on Palisade Street, a cul-de-sac where the family had recently moved into a two-story house. On Sunday, it remained cordoned off with police tape.

Ausheva moved from St. Petersburg, Russia, to Bayside in Queens in 2011 and joined the New York Army National Guard in July of that year, according to an announcement issued at the time by the White House. She served as a maintenance technician in Company G of the 427th Brigade Support Battalion, the announcement said.

“All of you did something profound: You chose to serve,” former President Barack Obama told Ausheva and 24 other immigrant service members during the naturalization ceremony on July 4, 2012. “You put on the uniform of a country that was not yet fully your own. You displayed the values that we celebrate every Fourth of July — duty, responsibility and patriotism.”

Ausheva enjoyed rock and jazz music and loved to sing. In 2012, she enrolled in a singing workshop, The Singing Experience, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

“She was a very determined young woman; she was charming and so enthusiastic,” said Linda Amiel Burns, founder of The Singing Experience. “This is just unbelievable what happened to her. I’m stunned.”

In the culmination of the workshop, where participants perform for each other, Ausheva appeared in a red cocktail dress and sang “Over the Spanish Sky,” mostly in Russian.

At the end of the song, she gave a short speech. “One year ago I moved from Russia, that’s when my first dream came true,” she said, still not completely fluent in English. “Then in summer I joined U.S. Army — that’s when my second dream came true. Now I’m singing on the stage, on real stage not a shower. You know, my third dream came true and now I wonder what’s next.”

The following year, Ausheva enrolled in the workshop again and took on a new challenge in her final performance: singing in English.

“When I first met her she was hesitant about her English, but then she came back and said, ‘I want to sing “Santa Baby,” I want to be American,’ ” Burns said. “It was so courageous for her to do that and she was so proud to be American.”

In November 2014, Ausheva transferred to the Air National Guard, according to a military spokeswoman. She was serving full time on active duty with the homeland security force based at Fort Hamilton, New York.

The father of her children, Walker, also served in the Army National Guard and later joined the Air National Guard, officials said. He was working as a vehicle operator. The authorities said they were unsure if Ausheva and Walker were married.

Walker was taken into custody around 7:48 a.m. Saturday after being found walking along the Brooklyn Queens Expressway, according to the police.

Around 2 1/2 hours later, authorities responded to a 911 call at Ausheva’s home on Palisade Street. When the police arrived, they said they found the house filled with smoke from a small fire. Ausheva and her two children, Ivan Walker, 2, and Elia Walker, 3, were found in the same room, according to Assistant Chief Kenneth Corey, the police borough commander for Staten Island.

“The New York National Guard acknowledges the loss of one of our traditional airmen in an apparent criminal homicide,” said Col. Richard Goldenberg, a public affairs officer for the Guard, in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are extended to the families of those involved and the military members who served alongside Airman 1st Class Alla Ausheva.”

Records indicate that the family had moved into the home within the past year. It was unclear how much time Walker spent there; neighbors said they did not see him often and the family mostly kept to itself.

“It’s a diverse neighborhood. Everyone gets along and tries to help each other out, but we didn’t know who they were,” said Graceann Pacifico, who has lived in the area for three decades.

Still, participants of The Singing Experience remembered Ausheva as outgoing and energetic.

“We all know that one of the most wonderful feelings in the world is love,” Ausheva said before she began to sing at her 2012 performance. “Sometimes life separates us from the person we love and all we have are our memories.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.