A disgruntled tenant shot to death the superintendent of his Bronx apartment building and wounded two men on Wednesday in the midst of an ongoing dispute over access to the backyard — before calling a local TV news outlet as he hid from cops, according to witnesses.
The shooter opened fire at his 37-year-old building super and a 62-year-old fellow tenant as they passed the suspect’s first-floor doorway inside the building on College Ave. near E. 170th St. about 8:30 a.m., cops said.
“I didn’t mean to do this but I had to do it because these people were threatening my life,” the suspect told News 12 Bronx when he called the station before being taken into police custody. The Daily News is withholding the suspect’s name because charges were still pending against him.
The super was shot in the chest, cops said. The tenant the super was with, identified by his wife as Orlando Nieves, was struck in the arm, with the bullet then going into the side of his chest.
“My husband got hit twice,” Nieves’ spouse, who gave her name only as Ebony, said. “He was ducking down and I was pulling him through the door.”
“The super ran out and (the suspect) chased him outside,” she added.
A 59-year-old man was shot in the buttocks as the suspect continued to shoot at the super after chasing him outside, witnesses said. That victim, who is believed to homeless according to News 12, later showed up at an area hospital and is expected to recover.
After killing the super, the gunmen hid inside his apartment, officials said.
Medics rushed the super and Nieves to an area hospital, where the super died. The super’s name was not immediately released.
As cops arrived, the suspect called News 12 Bronx saying he wouldn’t surrender until a camera crew was at the scene recording, a source at the station said. Station workers immediately called police and he was eventually taken into NYPD custody.
The station did a story on the suspect in 2022 after he complained about a dispute with the landlord of a different rent-controlled apartment in the Bronx over his refrigerator not working for a year.
He has since left that apartment. In the last three years, he has sent two dozen emails to News 12 with story ideas for reporters to pursue, a source at the station said.
A friend who only wanted to be identified by his first name, Robert, said the suspect suffers from bi-polar disorder.
Robert, who has volunteered at a nonprofit company that placed the suspect at the College Ave. address, said the suspect often clashed with and sued people but was never dangerous.
“He has no violence in his past but he has judgement issues with organizations,” Robert said. “Sometimes he goes to the drug store to get his prescription filled and he wonders what’s going on. Before you know it, they may be sued.”
Ebony said that she had constantly clashed with the suspect, who is suing her as well as building management.
“We’ve had problems with him for over a year,” she said. “He has the issue where anybody going in the backyard, he feels like it’s his and nobody else in the building can go back there.”
The Wednesday morning killing is the fifth shooting to take place in the Bronx within 24 hours. On Tuesday, four people were shot, two fatally, in four separate incidents.
Mayor Adams on Wednesday said that he was activating a “full mobilization plan” to tamp down on the gun violence in the borough.
