Monday, August 10, 2009

Mineola, NY: Despondent man kills rival

MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) - A man despondent over a breakup shot and killed another man who had recently started dating his ex-girlfriend, then turned the gun on himself, Nassau County police said Thursday.

Giovanni Cruz, 24, shot 21-year-old Kevin Cruz at the Taco Bell where he worked, Detective Sgt. Anthony Repalone said of the Wednesday night attack. The men were not related to each other.

Officers tracked the shooter down to a nearby residential area, and were approaching him when he shot himself once in the chest. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

, Repalone said.

Kevin Cruz, of Far Rockaway, was taken to Jamaica Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Repalone said Giovanni Cruz had been dating a woman, who was not identified, for about a year, until September of 2007. The woman broke up with him and had been seeing the other man.

Authorites found notes on Giovanni Cruz expressing remorse for his actions, and indicating that he was planning to kill himself. He also called his ex-girlfriend to let her know he had done something, Repalone said.

There was no evidence that the two men had had any disputes over the woman prior to the shooting, although they did know of each other. Repalone said authorities did not know how Giovanni Cruz made it from Brooklyn to the eatery in the North Lawrence section of Long Island. Neither man had a previous record.

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