• Font Size    
E-mail

Close Window E-mail This Page

Bronx Workplace Shooting Leaves 1 Dead, 2 Wounded

Required fields are marked with an asterisk(*)

The information you provide will be used only to send the requested e-mail and will not be used to send any other e-mail communications. Read more in our Privacy Policy

Send E-mail

   Print     Share +    Comments
Aug 30, 2007 5:07 pm US/Eastern

Bronx Workplace Shooting Leaves 1 Dead, 2 Wounded

Suspect Surrenders To Bronx D.A.

BRONX (CBS) ― One person was killed and two others injured after a man entered his former workplace in the Bronx on Thursday morning and began opening fire on employees in an apparent case of revenge.

Police tell CBS 2 that Paulino Valenzuela, 50, walked into the RiverBay Corporation in Co-Op City, a Bronx housing complex, about 8 a.m. and killed his ex-supervisor, identified as 59-year-old Audley Bent. They allege he then shot and wounded two other workers, one critically, before turning himself in.

RiverBay employee Philip Zardirima says he stared death in the face. "I'm happy to be alive. The guy ran out of bullets. All I kept hearing is 'click, click,'" he says

At Bent's Queens home, his son expressed his shock and anguish over what happened. "She's taking it bad -- my mother is taking it bad," he told CBS 2. "How could they let a guy like that in the building?".

Sources tell CBS 2 Valenzuela worked as a porter at RiverBay Corporation, starting in 1994, until he was fired in 2005

While investigators and residents hovered near the crime scene, police say the shooter went to the Bronx Criminal Court and turned himself in. He's now been charged with murder.

Court documents obtained by CBS 2 show Valenzuela had a history of violence at his workplace, even getting fired in 2000 for threatening a co-worker. He was reinstated after his union filed a grievance.

In 2001, he was suspended for two weeks after drinking beer on the job. Then in 2004, he was again suspended for two days after using foul language and threatening a co-worker again.

Finally in 2005, he was fired for good after a worker complained Valenzuela elbowed him in the jaw.

Valenzuela filed a lawsuit against RiverBay, saying that management discriminated against him because of his Hispanic race and because of an injury he suffered in 2002 that left him with limited hearing and vision.

Just last Friday, Judge Denis Cote of teh United States District Court Southern District ruled against Valenzuela in a final decision that was officially filed on Monday.

RiverBay's management, and Bent in particular, "hate the Latinos" on the work force, Valenzuela said in a statement while representing himself in court. "They always look at me with bad eyes."

Built in the late 1960s on the site of a former amusement park, Co-op City is a sprawling collection of 15,372 apartments in 35 high-rises and seven town house clusters. It has its own security force and power plant.

(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

Add Comment

here. here. Need a log in? Register here
  •  * Will not be displayed with comment
  •  * e.g. (http://www.mywebsite.com)
  •  
  • Click here to refresh with new letters

Show Comments (0)

Close Window Login


Close Window Flag Comment


loading...
You need the latest Flash player to view video content.
Click here to download.

Click here to bypass this detection if you already have the latest Flash Player.

Top Stories

Top News Stories

© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.