Masked gunman who 'followed sorority twins back from bar before shooting one as she pleaded for her life' was a career criminal with multiple robbery convictions

The gunman who held hostage 21-year-old Hofstra University student, Andrea Rebello, who later died in the police gun battle has been identified by police as Dalton Smith - a known criminal who was wanted for absconding parole for robbery. 

Police revealed the identity of Smith, 30, of Hempstead, today and revealed a warrant was put out for his arrest on April 25.

He had been found guilty of robbery in the 1st degree and had an extensive criminal background going back to 1999 with multiple convictions for theft and assault.

Robbery: Dalton Smith was today identified by police as the man who was carrying out a robbery on a sorority house in Uniondale when Andrea Rebello was shot dead

He also spent time in prison and was convicted again for handling contraband goods while behind bars.

He was shot by police on Friday after what appears to be an attempted robbery on Rebello, her twin and their friends. Reports say the man shot Andrea Rebello as she pleaded for her life.

The 30-year-old followed the sisters, Jessica and Andrea, Jessica's boyfriend John Kourtessiss and another student called Shannon Thomas back to the girls' California Avenue sorority house from the popular student bar, McHebes, according to the New York Post.

The gunman reportedly targeted the students after seeing them spending large amounts of money in the drinking spot to celebrate the end of the school term.

Around 2.20am he allegedly peered through the window in his ski mask and knocked on the door before forcing himself in and taking the group hostage.

Raiding the home he shouted: 'I saw you at the bar drinking. I know you have more money than this!', according to police sources quoted in the Post report.

He made the twins remain but told Thomas to leave and withdraw money from an ATM machine - warning her he would shoot her friends if she tried anything.

While away from the home she called 911. 

As police arrived neighbors said they heard blood-curdling screams and what sounded like a woman pleading for her life.

Victoria Dehel, who lives four doors down told the New York Times that she heard shouting.

At first is sounded like 'a bunch of drunk college students,' she told the Times.

'And then the screaming just got worse and worse and worse. And then we heard thuds, like five bangs,' she said.

Dehel said she and her boyfriend stepped onto their porch and they could hear what sounded like a woman pleading for her life, just as police cars raced down the street.

'I turned to my boyfriend and I said, 'I think someone just got murdered'. It was awful,' she said.

'[Police] drew their weapons and went inside,' neighbor Frank Pugliese, 19 told the Post.

“She was pleading for her life. You could tell she was scared. It was a surreal moment . . . She was pleading — her voice was trembling and she yelled, ‘No, no!’ ”

Victim: Andrea Rebello (right), has been shot dead by a masked intruder during an invasion of the home she shares with her twin sister Jessica (left). The suspect was also shot dead at the scene

Loss: The twins reportedly lived at the home just a block from campus with more of their sorority sisters

Horror: It is unknown at this time whether Rebello's twin sister witnessed the killing, but police confirmed that her sister had remained in the home while another girl was allowed outside

Smith is believed to have held them on the second floor.

Thomas told the 911 dispatcher that he had a silver handgun pointed at her friend's head in a bedroom, NBC reported.

The dispatcher passed the information to police and less than a minute later, Nassau County police officers reached the home. 

When they arrived, shots went off. A law enforcement source told the New York Post it appeared the suspect killed Rebello and the police then killed him but this timetable of events was still being verified.

'We don't know [the suspect's] motive at this time but it appears to be a robbery,' Chief Rick Capece said in a press conference on Friday.

Anthony Kourtessiss said his son was being questioned by police last night and Jessica was 'inconsolable'.

'It’s a terrible situation,' he told the newspaper. '[Jessica] was very upset, inconsolable right now.'

Scene: Officers guard the area leading to the white house, background, where the shooting broke out

Scene: She was home with two other girls and a male when the break in took place around 2.30am

Rebello was a member of the Beta Sigma Phi sorority and lived with six of her sorority sisters at the home, including her sister.

Students flocked to Twitter to express their grief at the killing, with many writing 'R.I.P' messages to Andrea and sending her twin sister their best wishes and prayers.

A private vigil was held at the Hofstra Student Center last night and it was announced today that her funeral will take place on Wednesday.

Rebello's father, Fernando, was too distraught to discuss the incident outside the family's home in Tarrytown, New York, yesterday.

'It's my daughter, my baby daughter,' the landscaping company chief told the Journal News outside the home he shares with wife Nella. 

'She was so beautiful. I'm so confused. 'I don't know what to do,' he added.

Her godmother told the newspaper: 'It's just too tragic'.

Andrea was a junior at Hofstra studying Public Relations and Sociology and had attended Sleepy Hollow High School alongside her sister.

'I'm 100% Portuguese and have an identical twin sister so I guess that makes me kind of unique?' she wrote on her blog.

Principal Carol Conklin-Spillane said the girls were 'a set' and Andrea was devoted to her family who are close to other members of the Portuguese community in the area. 

'She had a devotion to family and sense of purpose and of opportunity,' she said.

Photographs on her Facebook page show the girl as a popular student who enjoyed hanging out with friends and her twin sister, while her blog documents her cooking hobby.

Neighbors said their house had a vegetable garden and the twins would sometimes drop off the produce.

'They brought me some vegetables from their garden. They’re very nice people. They’d do anything for you,' Harris Bank told the New York Post.

Her funeral will be held at St. Teresa of Avila Church in Sleepy Hollow and will be officiated by the Rev. Osvaldo Franklin, of Our Lady of Fatima in Yonkers, who gave the twins their first communion.

He said they helped with Mass for several years after that.

Sisters: Jessica and Andrea Rebello, pictured, remained in the home while another girl was allowed out to collect money from an ATM. The girl called police immediately and they arrived minutes later

Popular: Photographs on Facebook show Andrea, a junior at Hofstra, enjoying nights out with friends

Break in: Police said that the masked, armed intruder knocked on the front door before forcing his way inside the home and holding the friends, including Andrea (left), hostage

Distraught: Hofstra University students gather near the house where the girl and an armed intruder were killed

Sadness: The suspect and the girl were both shot after police arrived at the Long Island home

Authorities said Andrea's twin sister is now with their family.

On Friday morning, Hofstra University President Stuart Rabinowitz released a statement condemning the shooting as a 'senseless act of violence'.

'The Nassau County Police have notified us that early this morning a Hofstra student was killed during a tragic crime which took place in a rental house off campus,' the statement read.

'The police investigation is ongoing, and we do not yet know all of the relevant details. What we do know is that a young member of the Hofstra family has been taken from us in a senseless act of violence.'

Home: The victim lived at the home which is just a block from the university campus with sorority sisters

Campus: The private university, on Long Island in New York, has nearly 13,000 students

Friday was the last day of exams for students at the university and graduation is being held on Sunday, but Rabinowitz added that the ceremonies would go ahead as scheduled.

'The accomplishments of our graduates must be recognized, and together our community will heal and find the strength to move forward,' he said.

Hofstra University is a private college on Long Island, New York. Nearly 13,000 students attend the university, which is about 25 miles east of New York City.