A gunman fatally shot a Bronx man in his home around midday Tuesday, and then committed an “accidental suicide” when he fled down the apartment building stairwell, tripped, and inadvertently shot himself in the neck.
According to police, a dispute between the two soon-to-be dead men boiled over at 12:30 PM in the three-bedroom apartment on Rev. James A. Polite Ave. near E. 163rd St. in Longwood.
The 28-year-old suspect fatally shot a 32-year-old apartment resident in the head and then grazed another man, 56, in the cheek on the fifth floor. The gunman then fled the scene, taking the stairs faster than his feet could keep up with him, sources said. When the suspect reached the third floor, his drooping trousers tripped him up. According to a detective on the case, he fell with his finger still on the trigger, discharging the weapon a final time and blasting himself with a bullet to the neck that killed him.
“It was a murder/accidental suicide,” a police source said. “He shoots the guy, runs down the stairs, trips and shoots himself.”
Police are still investigating the source of the dispute that led to the violence.
The 56-year-old victim said that he was in his room when he heard a commotion and then a gunshot. He had to force the door open because his roommate lay dead in front of it, he added.
“I saw blood splatter,” he said. “His chest was covered in blood. [The victim’s] body was blocking the door.”
The witness said that he later saw the gunman lying dead in the lower stairwell.
“He was down on the steps, covered in blood,” he recalled. “His pants were down past his waist. You could see his a–.”
