More On: Doug Solomon
Friends of Doug Solomon, a former NYC prep school student who 'killed' his mother and himself, talk about his shady past
Police say that Doug Solomon, a 26-year-old man from Manhattan, killed his mother with a lamp on Tuesday and then jumped out a window to kill himself. People who knew him say he was quiet and didn't know what to do with himself.
“He displayed a lot of signs of depression,” a former classmate from the elite Poly Prep Country Day School in Brooklyn told The Post. “He was not going out to clubs or doing much of anything. He was anti-social. I didn’t reach out to Doug but, after talking to some people from our Poly Prep friend group, it sounded like he didn’t want to be reached out to. You don’t want to ask what’s going on to a person who has nothing going on.”
The son of retired New York judge Charles Solomon was called "rudderless" by police sources. A background check on Doug, who still lived with his parents nearly eight years after dropping out of Rhodes College during his freshman year in 2014-2015, showed that he had never worked before.
The former classmate added, “We all loved Doug. But if he was still alive, and if we hit him up right now, he would probably be chilling in his room.”
Doug played lacrosse for Poly Prep, and one of his classmates remembers that he was "off brand. Doug would be shooting baskets on the red top (the school basketball court) like different NBA players. He made people laugh. He was smart and good at lacrosse. He had the whole look: the crazy flow and the lettuce in the back of his helmet, which is slang for long hair. Doug was as smooth as the Mississippi. On the field, he was cocky. That was where he was most at ease. He was a good athlete by nature, but he didn't push himself as much as he could have. He lacked drive."
This was especially unusual at Poly, a Bay Ridge school that costs a lot ($57,870 for 12th grade tuition in 2022/2023) and is full of high achievers who, according to a staff member, often go on to top universities.
The staffer recalled how Doug made captain of the team during his senior year, but was still a chronic underachiever. “He was the most unmotivated,” the staffer said, explaining that, at 6’ 1” and 175 pounds, the teen had all the natural attributes for superstardom on the field. “He was a big kid and a lefty — which is usually good combination for scoring — but he just didn’t work hard even though it looked like he had talent. It was disappointing.”
He also described Solomon as an introvert to the point where “it was weird.” If questioned about a play, “he wouldn’t even answer.”
Law enforcement sources say that Doug liked to drink a lot and smoke pot. They say that he was naked when he jumped from the family's luxury 16th-floor apartment on East 79th Street, where a three-bedroom unit recently sold for $2,450,000, and that he was heard screaming on the way down. "I wouldn't be shocked," the worker said.
People who knew Doug might find it most shocking that he killed his mother, Diane Gallagher, who was 65 and taught dance at PS 190 in East New York, Brooklyn, and ran the high school musical at PS 183 on the Upper East Side.
All signs point to them getting along well, at least when he was in high school. "We used to hang out at the East 79th Street apartment. Back then, Doug was great. They were fun to hang out with. "His mom made me feel good," said a former classmate. "She would ask about your life and always offer food and drinks. She was very attentive and nice to us and always had a smile on her face. There, things were going really well. They had a wonderful family. It's hard to think of a reason why [he would brutally kill his mother]. It's hard to believe. It doesn't at all."
A friend of Diane's told The Post, "I remember her having a very loving relationship with her son." "She was so happy that he finished high school and went to college. She talked a lot about him and seemed to love him."
But things didn't go as planned at Rhodes, and Doug's life started to get worse. You'd never know if he was excited to play on the lacrosse team or not. The coach does not remember him showing up for preseason practices, and he is not on the team's roster for the 2014 season.
“He was part of a fraternity at college,” remembered the former classmate. “It looked like he was partying and what not.”
In fact, a photo of Doug from 2014 posted on Facebook shows a cigarette or joint hanging out of his mouth and a cloud of smoke in front of his face.
He quit college before finishing his first year, moved back home, and never seemed to get his life together. After college, he went to see a therapist for a while.
“Doug could have had mental blocks in his head that slowed him down. Maybe he had a learning disability,” said the former classmate. “I can tell you that he lacked confidence and did not want to be studious. College was not right for him.”
His sister, Leah Solomon, is 28 years old. She has a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania. She lives in the Kips Bay neighborhood and works as an acquisitions associate for an investment firm.
Meanwhile, police sources say that Doug turned into a lazy, angry person who smoked pot and drank alcohol to pass the time. Father Charles told the police that there had been no trouble at home before, but it is said that he and his now-deceased wife had talked about what to do with their son the night before.
The last time the friend saw Diane was only three months ago, and she had a big smile on her face, the friend told The Post. She looked the same as she did before... Her life seemed to be perfect. No one knows what goes on inside [another family's] apartment, but she has always seemed nice."
But on the morning of what seemed to be a murder-suicide, a neighbor a few floors below the Solomons said she heard shouting.
“Something snapped inside of Doug,” believes the former classmate. “It must have been a 30-second lapse of judgment and his life changed. I can’t believe that any of it was premeditated. He sees his mother unconscious and can’t live with himself. He didn’t want to rot away for 30 years in jail. He was such a nice kid. Now, to be remembered for this, is awful.”
