HUDSON FALLS — The widow of the Hudson Falls man who robbed a pharmacy and led police on a chase before taking his own life said when her husband left the house to run an errand on Jan. 28, she had no idea that would be the last time she would see him alive.
Sheldon Streicher, 38, was supposed to go to the drug store and come right back, according to Amanda Streicher. Instead, he robbed McCann’s Pharmacy, then led police from four agencies on a chase that ended near the county line in Fort Ann when he died by suicide.
Streicher said she was on COVID restrictions so did not leave the house.
“I heard the sirens that day and stated to my daughter that I get nervous to hear sirens when dad is not home,” she said in an email.
Streicher said she had no idea what was going on until police came to her door at 7:20 p.m.
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“I do not know why he did what he did. He was not thinking properly. I did not know the situation he was in. He was not himself recently,” she said.
Amanda Streicher said that her husband had grown depressed after his father died and he had hurt his back and was receiving treatment.
Report gives new details
A copy of the Hudson Falls police report, obtained by The Post-Star through a Freedom of Information Law request, paints a fuller picture of what happened that day.
The chase started just before 4 p.m., when police received a report that a man, wearing dark-colored clothing and a face mask and holding a shotgun, had entered the pharmacy. He said: “Don’t bother calling the cops” and then walked toward the register, according to witnesses.
A customer ran over to the prescription-filling area to inform the pharmacist. She reported that Streicher barged through the swinging doors, pointed the shotgun at the pharmacist’s head and demanded all the “Oxy” (oxycodone) that they had.
The pharmacist grabbed about 24 bottles of the narcotic, put them in the bag and handed it to Streicher, according to the report.
Streicher fled the store in a silver Hyundai Elantra with no license plates and drove along River Street before heading back to Main Street.
A Washington County Sheriff’s patrol officer located the vehicle and attempted to stop Streicher on the Boulevard. The chase continued on Route 4 into Kingsbury, with a line of seven or eight cars in pursuit, from Hudson Falls Police Department, Warren County Sheriff’s Office, Washington County Sheriff’s Office and state police, according to the report.
A state trooper radioed other officers to report that Streicher had pointed a gun at him through the back window of his vehicle — a detail that police had not confirmed previously.
State police and Warren County sheriff’s deputies were attempting to deploy spike strips on state Route 149.
The chase continued into the village of Fort Ann, then Streicher turned onto Route 149. His vehicle slowed and came to a stop near the Washington/Warren County line. The police cars also stopped and officers got out of the vehicle, with weapons drawn.
Warren County Sheriff’s officers shouted repeatedly at Streicher: “Don’t do it!” But he shot himself in the head.
State police took over the case at that point. The agency completed its portion of the investigation in early June, according to the Hudson Falls report. Investigators were waiting on forensics analysis before closing the case. A FOIL request to the state police is pending and its report will not be available until August.
Streicher said she had not received the report from the police. She would like to receive the video footage and a copy of his autopsy report. She has unanswered questions, but police have not been in touch.
Streicher and Amanda Ross Streicher had four children. They had owned Top Shelf Auto Repair in Hudson Falls. She said Sheldon had always wanted to own his own business, and that dream came true.
“He was an amazing person and would give the shirt off his back. Sheldon loved his children and was an extremely devoted father and husband,” she said in an email.
Amanda said she dated Sheldon for the first time at Oliver Winch Middle School in South Glens Falls. The two went separate ways, and he graduated from college with an automotive degree. They met again in 2006, started a family and married in 2013.
Sheldon Streicher was having some financial issues at the time of his death. He owed about $14,600 in federal taxes, according to a federal tax lien filed in October 2020 in the Washington County Clerk’s Office.
He also owed nearly $4,600 in back child support, according to a state tax warrant filed in the office on July 8 of last year.
Still, Amanda Streicher does not know what motivated her husband to do what he did that day.
“The whole situation is a shock, and I can’t believe he did it. Obviously, he did, but again I do not know what he was thinking and that was not him,” she said.
Amanda said the family misses him like people could not believe, and they think about him daily.
“There is not one thing that anyone can say bad about him. I wish I could turn back time. Tell him I loved him and gave him a kiss,” she said.
“But he was supposed to have a quick run to the store and come home. So I never got to say goodbye, neither did the kids.”
Michael Goot covers politics, crime and courts, Warren County, education and business. Reach him at 518-742-3320 or mgoot@poststar.com.