Police: 2 dead, 1 wounded in central Florida mall shooting
Published 9:34 am Monday, January 19, 2015
MELBOURNE, Fla. — A Florida man shot his wife at a shopping mall food court Saturday and killed another person before turning the gun on himself, police say.
Gunfire rang out at the Melbourne Square Mall shortly before it opened. Police said Jose Garcia-Rodriguez of Palm Bay shot his wife and an unidentified man before shooting himself, said Cmdr. Vince Pryce of Melbourne Police. Only the wife survived.
Police said Garcia-Rodriguez, 57, died at the hospital. His wife, 33-year-old Idanerys Garcia-Rodriguez, was hospitalized with a gunshot wound and was in good condition late Saturday, Pryce said. Police say she worked at the mall’s food court, and Pryce said she was the “intended victim.”
“We believe this may stem from a domestic violence incident,” he said.
The name of the other victim, who died, was not released. Pryce said his relationship to the Garcias remained under investigation. No one else in the mall was killed or wounded.
Officers evacuated the mall, assisting some employees who had locked themselves in closets when they heard gunfire at around 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Pryce said.
When officers found the three victims, Garcia “had several pockets full of ammunition,” Pryce said. Police subsequently said investigators recovered three handguns at the site, along with the ammunition, believed to belong to the suspect.
The mall was shut down on Saturday but was to reopen Sunday.
Donna Evans of Melbourne said she was in the food court when she heard gunfire about 20 feet to 25 feet away.
“We had just gotten our food to sit down by Starbucks and Chik-fil-A, and you just hear the ‘pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop,’ and you just drop everything and your body just makes you run,” Evans said.