Man Suspected In Ex's Slaying Outside Queens Casino Killed In NYPD Shootout
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The hunt for a man suspected of killing his ex-girlfriend outside the Resorts World Casino in Queens ended Tuesday morning with police killing him in an elementary school parking lot in Brooklyn.
Police said 51-year-old Dalton Branch had first targeted a man he found in a car with his ex-girlfriend, 55-year-old Patricia Mohammed, at about 2:30 a.m. outside the casino on Rockaway Avenue.
Mohammed worked at the casino and the man in her car was a co-worker, CBS2's Diane Macedo reported.
Branch shot at the man, who escaped, police said. After trying to chase him, police said Branch doubled back and shot Mohammed multiple times.
People inside the casino at the time said they had no idea anything was wrong until witnesses ran inside and started recounting what happened.
Man Suspected In Ex's Slaying Outside Queens Casino Killed In NYPD Shootout
"I was surprised," one woman said. "Rather surprised. It's crazy."
"It's sad, it's heartbreaking and it makes you very uncomfortable," another man said.
Branch, who also used to work for the casino, fled in a white sedan, then texted the surviving victim several times, police said.
"He texts our victim. He has his phone number, the male he attempts to shoot, texts him taunting messages calling himself 'the Grim Reaper,'" Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said. "At a point thereafter, he calls a member of the female's family, and he tells them basically the same thing."
At around 6 a.m., police said they tracked Branch's location to the parking lot of a school on Pennsylvania Avenue and Stanley Avenue in East New York.
"As they pulled up, they were immediately fired upon by this individual,'' Boyce said. The officers returned fire, striking him multiple times, authorities said. Branch was taken to Brookdale Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Man Suspected In Ex's Slaying Outside Queens Casino Killed In NYPD Shootout
The shooting left many nearby residents on edge.
"I thought it was fireworks and all of a sudden I heard a siren I jumped up and looked out the window and that's when I seen a guy laying on the ground," resident Mattie Brooks told Macedo.
"I jumped," another resident said. "It sounded like a machine gun."
Mohammed died at Jamaica Hospital with multiple gunshot wounds to the torso. The other man escaped without injury.
Police believe the male victim may have been Mohammed's new boyfriend.
Investigators recovered shell casings at the scene, along with a .380-caliber handgun, which was cocked, and an extra magazine and empty ammo box, police said.
In April, the same casino was the scene of a brawl involving about two dozen people that resulted in two arrests.
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