MELBOURNE (US), Jan 19: A shopping mall in central Florida reopened, a day after a shooting in its food court that left two people dead, including the gunman, and one injured.
Melbourne Square Mall yesterday reopened for normal business hours at noon.
Police said 57-year-old Jose Garcia-Rodriguez of Palm Bay shot his wife and Leonardo Coppola before turning the gun on himself in the mall’s food court shortly before the mall opened Saturday morning.
Idanerys Garcia-Rodriguez, who worked at the mall, survived and was hospitalized in good condition. Police said the 33-year-old woman was the intended victim in the shooting that apparently stemmed from a domestic violence incident.
Coppola, 36, of West Melbourne, owned a restaurant in the food court. He was shot as he tried to move Idanerys Garcia-Rodriguez out of harm’s way, police said yesterday. The mall was closed while police investigated.
Yesterday, Florida Today reported that a half-dozen flower bouquets and several white candles were displayed on the counter of a closed pizza restaurant in the food court.
Neighbors of the couple, who have two daughters, said they had seemed close.
“They would walk hand-in-hand all the time,” Raymond Jacobs, who lives across the street from the couple’s well-manicured home, told Florida Today. (AGENCIES)
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