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Hanover Area High School closed Monday

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‘Sports Bash’ at Wilkes University helps support local Special Olympics

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Tina Johnson remembers smoking cigarettes with Zackary Yashkus and Sharae Thompson on the back porch of the McLean Street apartment building where she lives.</p><p>Johnson also remembers the former couple&#8217;s son, Xander, 3, playing alongside his mother as they made their way into their apartment.</p><p>But on Sunday morning, when Johnson woke up, she said she was painfully aware that on the other side of their shared wall, there was no life.</p><p>All three had died the day before in a murder/suicide in which Yashkus, 23, had taken the lives of Thompson and his son, Xander Yashkus, and then turned the gun on himself.</p><p>Johnson looked back to the parking lot in which the body of Sharae Thompson had been found.</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t ever park back there, thank God,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I park on the street. I&#8217;m never going back there.&#8221;</p><p>Johnson, who has a 4-year-old daughter, said she would never had predicted that Yashkus would have shot his own son in the head.</p><p>&#8220;Something must have snapped,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I never thought he would do something like that.&#8221;</p><p>She said both Yashkus and Thompson often struck up conversations while smoking cigarettes outside, and both were pleasant.</p><p>Johnson, who moved here from New Jersey, said she and Thompson shared the struggle of working to support themselves and their young children.</p><p>She said Thompson worked long hours and, at only 21 years old, was working to put together a good life for her and her son in a quiet, stable home.</p><p>&#8220;I understand that he (Yashkus) moved out a while ago,&#8221; she said. &#8220;But, I never heard them arguing or anything.&#8221;</p><p>Johnson said she at first didn&#8217;t understand why Thompson was found where she was, but she later heard that the young mother possibly was fleeing from the residence Saturday morning when she was shot in the head.</p><p>&#8220;At first, I thought, &#8216;Why would she be in the car?&#8217;&#8221; she said. &#8220;But now it makes sense.&#8221;</p><p>Johnson said she believes the incident simply reflected a personal conflict and not the nature of the entire neighborhood.</p><p>&#8220;I feel safe here,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Of course, when I get in really late, I move fast to get inside. But, I generally feel safe.&#8221;</p><p>Johnson demonstrated how on Sunday morning she had put her hand against the wall, on the other side of which Thompson had lived with her son.</p><p>&#8220;Life&#8217;s never going to be quite the same,&#8221; she said.</p><p>John Yashkus, identified as Zackary Yashkus&#8217;s cousin on Facebook, shared similar feelings of disbelief and despair on his Facebook page on Saturday.</p><p>&#8220;On this dark day we unfortunately must mournfully say our goodbye&#8217;s to three young people whom I&#8217;ve grown so much with since a young age, as well as extremely blessed to call family,&#8221; John Yashkus wrote. &#8220;I am full of emotions like anger, sadness, hate, distraught, you name it. But I&#8217;ve learned in this world that you&#8217;re guaranteed nothing and the world doesn&#8217;t stop for anyone&#8221;</p><p>The post continues, &#8220;Xander, my man. I&#8217;ll never forget waiting at the hospital to see you for the first time, &amp; especially holding you for the first time! I saw great things in your future just by looking in your eyes and I now know what it was. You were the best, well mannered, energetic, loud, playful, loving little boy that I&#8217;ve ever been around and it warmed my heart knowing that I was privileged to be your &#8216;uncle John&#8217; &#8230; Fly high Xander.&#8221;</p><p>John Yashkus, who posted several pictures of Zackary Yashkus with his son, thanked &#8220;the over 500 people that reached out personally and through social media.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Zackary Yashkus </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_zack-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Zackary Yashkus </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_XanderAndMom-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Xander Yashkus, 3, and his mother, Sharae Thompson, 21. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_XanderAndMom-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Xander Yashkus, 3, and his mother, Sharae Thompson, 21. </caption1><photoCredit1>Photos from Facebook </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Geri Gibbons</p><p>ggibbons@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>OBITUARIES</strong></p><p>Pending obituary notices for all three of the deceased can be found on page 8A.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Geri Gibbons at 570-991-6117 or on Twitter @TLGGibbons.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Neighbor, uncle share memories of Wilkes-Barre mother/son murder victims