By Diana Samuels
Daily News Staff Writer
Posted: 05/14/2010 08:40:41 PM PDT
Updated: 05/15/2010 03:53:27 AM PDT
Two people were found shot to death inside a Mountain View dry cleaning business Friday morning, police said.
Police released few details about the crime and said it was unclear whether it was a double homicide or a murder-suicide. People at nearby businesses, though, said they had heard reports that the deceased were the divorced owners of the dry cleaning shop, and that the man had shot his ex-wife before turning the gun on himself.
Authorities were called to Vogue Cleaners at 595 Escuela Ave. about 6:45 a.m. Friday, according to police spokeswoman Liz Wylie. An employee found a Korean man in his 70s and a Korean woman in her 60s dead inside the store just after arriving at work. Both appeared to have died from gunshot wounds, Wylie said, and a handgun was recovered from the scene.
"Definitely we're developing some evidence that it could be a murder-suicide," Wylie said.
At the scene, police cordoned off a stretch of Latham Street next to the dry cleaning shop. Police tape blocked the front of the business, a small corner storefront with a maroon banner reading "VOGUE CLEANERS" and fluorescent signs in the window advertising "Dry Cleaning, Same Day Service."
As authorities collected evidence, customers stopped at neighboring businesses to ask about the activity.
People at the businesses said a couple they knew as Joe and In had owned the dry cleaning shop for years, as well as Calderon Cleaners on Calderon Avenue. They
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said each had two adult children from previous marriages, and had been married for roughly a decade before divorcing about two years ago.
The Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner's office said the shooting victims would not be officially identified until Monday. Business records confirm the owner of Vogue Cleaners was In Ku Lee, and a local newspaper article posted on the wall of the Calderon business indicated Joe's name was Chang Yung Cho.
Emily Salciccia, whose family owns the nearby restaurant Tony & Alba's Pizza and Pasta, said her family had been friends with Cho and Lee since their businesses opened around the same time, nearly 30 years ago.
Salciccia said people at the local stores called Cho "Mayor Joe," because he was such a constant presence in the area. She said she was "in shock" when she heard about the deaths.
"He was really a friendly guy," she said. "A lot of people loved him around here."
Salciccia said Lee mostly stayed in the shop and she didn't know her well.
"(Cho) didn't really talk about it, but there was conflict between them," Salciccia said.
She remembered seeing Cho the evening before. He greeted her and asked how her car was running.
"He said 'I'll see you later angel, bye!' " Salciccia said. "And that was it."
There has not been a homicide in Mountain View since siblings Omar Aquino and Teresa Sanchez-Aquino were shot and killed in their home on Plymouth Street in June 2008.
Anyone with information about Friday's deaths is asked to call the police department at 650-903-6344.
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