Published Monday, March 3, 2008 at 9:14 p.m.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A 60-year-old gunman wearing a jacket and tie wordlessly opened fire inside a Wendy's during the lunchtime rush Monday, killing a firefighter who'd returned to exchange a toy and wounding five other diners.
Alburn Edward Blake of West Palm Beach then turned the gun on himself.
"This was not a robbery. He didn't demand anything," said Paul Miller, a Palm Beach County sheriff's spokesman. "Looks like this was just another random shooting like we've seen around the United States."
The 42-year-old victim, Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue Lt. Rafael Vazquez, had met his wife and child at the restaurant, Deputy Fire-Rescue Chief Steve Delai said. The family had just left, but Vazquez returned to exchange a promotional toy in his child's meal and was shot in the back as he stood at the counter, Delai said.
Neighbors described Blake as a quiet man who "kept to himself." Public records show that Blake owned a maintenance and handyman company until 2003. A 1996 story in The Palm Beach Post showed that he accidentally ran over an 18-month-old girl with his van, leaving her seriously injured. The story said he had a young daughter who would now be a teenager.
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http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080303/APN/803030841
A witness said the police took out a bag of pills from his apartment. Is this another case of a known mentally ill person with guns? I don't know. No one does right now but I'm sure there will be more reports. I do know that the people who were at Wendy's will need to get some help with this. Think of what you'd be like going through something like this.
