Police take one of four men in for questioning in connection with an alleged murder-suicide at the Hilton Garden Inn near JFK Airport. He was interviewed about the two men dead in the hotel lobby in the background, then released. Forum Newsgroup photos by Jeremiah Dobruck.
Police will continue investigating a shooting in a South Ozone Park hotel on May 10 that the District Attorney is calling a murder suicide.
At 12:30 p.m., 47-year-old Gary Zalevsky shot 31-year-old Brian Weiss before turning the gun on himself, police said.
The victim and shooter were eating with four other men in the cafeteria of the Hilton Garden Inn at 148-30 134th St. not far from John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Police sources said they have video of the incident where Zalevsky lets off round after round at Weiss before shooting himself.
But the video and four others at the table gave them no clue what motivated the murder.
Hotel workers at the scene said they heard a half-dozen or more shots that left the two men in pools of blood.
They were pronounced dead at the scene. Both were from Florida.
A contractor at the Hilton said his crew was breaking up tile as the gunshots started.
He at first thought the blasts were the sound of a sledgehammer hitting tile until he realized it was too loud.
He said he heard at least five shots; another hotel worker said he heard up to nine.
The worker, who declined to give his name, said his 73-year-old father grabbed him by the back of his shirt and slammed him into a wall to prevent him from walking into the lobby, where two men were crumpled.
Police said the video showed one lying on the floor with another slumped over a chair.
Witnesses said the four other men tried to flee after the bullets started flying, and when police arrived, they quickly cuffed the four and laid them on the sidewalk.
The four were separated and taken in for individual questioning at the 106th Precinct. Police also inspected a matte-gray SUV with New Jersey plates outside the hotel.
None of the four were arrested, however. They are being treated as witnesses.
Police said the investigation is ongoing.
By Jeremiah Dobruck
j.dobruck@theforumnewsgroup.com
