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Police: Gunman had been tossed from eatery
Man who killed 2 officers, worker may have been angry friend was fired
 Charles Edouard Jottras / AP Policemen gather around the body of the gunman in New York's Greenwich Village on Wednesday night after he shot and killed a pizza parlor employee and two unarmed volunteer police officers who pursued him. The gunman was then shot to death by other police officers. |
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 Lockup Extended Stay Corcoran: Lockdown In the four months we spent inside Corcoran, our producers saw violence erupt many times, though never between inmates and officers. But as we neared the end of our stay, no one foresaw that the greatest threat to Corcoran staff might come from an event in a California prison more than 100 miles away. It was significant enough to provoke a lockdown of the prison system statewide. |
NEW YORK - A gunman who killed two unarmed volunteer police officers and a bartender had been repeatedly kicked out of the pizzeria where the shootings began and may have been angry that a friend who worked there was fired, police said Thursday.
Wearing a fake beard, David Garvin gunned down the restaurant worker before leading police on a running gun battle through the crowded streets of Greenwich Village. He was shot dead by full-time police officers.
After the shooting stopped, Garvin's body lay bloodied and askew outside a shop on Bleecker Street, near New York University and close to several famous bars and restaurants, including Cafe Wha?, where Bob Dylan used to perform.
Garvin, 42, had been carrying two semiautomatic firearms and a bag with a fake beard and 100 rounds of ammunition, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said that Garvin had no psychiatric history, but a family member indicated he exhibited increasing paranoia in recent years, claiming that people were "out to get him."
"He was heavily armed and prepared to kill at will," Kelly said. He credited the auxiliary officers who were killed, Nicholas Todd Pekearo and Eugene Marshalik, with helping to prevent more carnage. Auxiliary officers are civilians who conduct patrols wearing uniforms nearly identical to regular police.
‘I hit the ground’
Andy Paul, a singer whose band was about to perform, said people had flocked to the area's outdoor cafes to enjoy one of the first warm evenings of spring-like weather when the gunshots began.
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"I hit the ground. I wasn't paying attention to anything. I just didn't want to get shot," he said.
The rampage began around 9 p.m. when Garvin went into a pizzeria, asked for a menu, then shot an employee 15 times in the back, Bloomberg said. Police identified the victim as Alfredo Romero, 35.
Kelly said Garvin was apparently a customer of the pizzeria and had been kicked out several times. He said police also were investigating whether the recent firing of a friend who worked at the restaurant played a role.
Garvin fled after the shooting, and police who heard the shots radioed information about the gunman. Pekearo and Marshalik approached the gunman, who fired at them.
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One of the officers ordered Garvin to drop a bag full of weapons. He did, but then he led them on a chase before turning on them, and shot Marshalik in the back of the head.
Police released surveillance footage that showed Pekearo ducking behind a car before he was fatally shot as Garvin hovered over him.
Garvin reportedly fired about 26 rounds
Garvin then exchanged gunfire with regular officers, who shot him, the mayor said. Authorities said Garvin shot about 26 rounds in the rampage.
In a search of Garvin's Bronx apartment, authorities found another weapon, a loaded .357-caliber revolver and about 100 rounds of ammunition, along with a wig, false moustache and knives, Kelly said.
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