A would-be robber who relatives said had a history of mental illness walked into a shoe store on a busy commercial strip in the Bronx at midday Tuesday and opened fire, leaving five people dead, police said.
Among the victims was a mother and her two young sons, who were shopping for sneakers, and the wife of the store owner, whose second wedding anniversary was Tuesday. Three other people in the store were critically wounded.The gunman, identified as 22-year-old Michael Vernon, tried to flee the store using a hostage as a shield, but he was shot and wounded in a gun battle with a police officer underneath an elevated line and was apprehended.
While investigators said they believed Vernon intended to rob the store - Little Chester Shoes on White Plains Road in the Pelham Parkway section, near the Bronx Zoo - it was unclear Tuesday night what exactly prompted the gunman to open fire.
Deputy Chief Charles Kammerdener, the chief of Bronx detectives, said Vernon had been in the store before, apparently casing it, on the pretext of looking for a certain kind of sneaker.
"Today, he went in to rob it," Kammerdener said. "He asked for a particular type of sneaker. When they didn't have it, he just began shooting."
A police investigator said that before opening fire, the man said, "You should have given me those sneakers."
One of the people killed was Kwong Bae, 41, the wife of the store's owner, Choon Bae. Also killed were Maria Carrasquillo, 38, of the Bronx, and her sons, Rafael Gonzalez, 12, and Ricardo Gonzalez, 13. A fifth victim had not been identified Tuesday night.
A police official tentatively identified the three people wounded by the gunman as Junior Gonzalez, a store clerk; Jae Moon Chae, 67, believed to be a customer, and Juan Dones, age unknown. The three were listed in critical condition last night.
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who visited some of the relatives of the victims, called the shooting "a horrible, horrendous act - one these families are going to live with the rest of their lives."