[Teprophopay]

Three dead in supermarket shooting

GEOFF MULVIHILL Associated Press JULIO CORTEZ
Associated Press August 31, 201210:56PM



AN ex-Marine wearing military clothing opened fire at a grocery market early Friday, killing two of his co-workers and himself as other terrified store employees hid in the back.

The 23-year-old man left his shift at a store in at about 3:30 a.m. and returned a half-hour later to the closed store with a handgun and an AK-47 assault rifle, Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan said. About 12 to 14 workers were still there.

The man fired at least 16 rounds from the rifle at the first workers he saw, killing 18-year-old Christina LoBrutto and a 24-year-old Bryan Breen as other workers hid, officials said.
"I do not believe that they were specifically targeted. I believe everybody in the store was a target," said Kaplan.



Middlesex County prosecutor Bruce Kaplan inspects the scene of a shooting at a supermarket in New Jersey. The gunman shot two people and then himself, Mr Kaplan said.

The gunman then killed himself, said Kaplan.He did not release the suspect's name, but a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation identified him as Terence Tyler, an ex-Marine who was discharged in 2010. The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because his agency is not in charge of the investigation.

Tyler, an infantryman from Brooklyn, never served overseas, said Marine spokeswoman Capt. Kendra Motz. She wouldn't comment on the circumstances of his discharge.



The Pathmark grocery store in Old Bridge, New Jersey, where the shooting happened. Picture: Julio Cortez

At the top of a Facebook page for a Terence Tyler who says he served in the Marines the same dates as the shooter has this slogan: "Be optimistic. All the people you hate are going to eventually die."

Tyler moved to an apartment near the supermarket earlier this summer, neighbors said. Co-workers said he had been only working at the store for a few weeks.

Pathmark worker Miranda Miranda said she steered clear of Tyler. "The way he looked at me, he gave me an uneasy vibe," she said.



The scene of a shooting at a Pathmark grocery store in Old Bridge, New Jersey. The person believed to be the shooter is among the dead. Picture: Julio Cortez

Miranda had regularly worked the overnight shift on Thursday but said LoBrutto agreed to take over the shift for her a few weeks ago.

John Niccollai, president of a foodworkers union that represents some store employees, said officials and workers at the Pathmark store told him the gunman wore military clothing and had just punched out for the night before coming back into the store and opening fire.

Many of the employees escaped gunfire, Niccollai said, when an assistant manager, "who I would view as a hero," helped many workers to get out of the store through the back door.

Kaplan and police walked through the shooting scene at the supermarket Friday morning, with two long windows in the front completely shot through. Police kept onlookers away; a number of vehicles were in the parking lot outside, along with police cars.

The store and its parking lot were closed.

A spokeswoman for Pathmark's parent company, Montvale-based Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. said Friday the company is "deeply saddened" by the shooting and is cooperating with investigators.