Yahoo News reports
A balding garment salesman was arrested Wednesday for systematically killing three shopkeepers as they worked alone in their clothing stores and had been poised to strike again, police said.
Salvatore
Perrone, 63, was taken into custody after a pharmacy worker recognized
him as the man shown in surveillance footage leaving the scene of the
most recent shooting, last Friday, with a duffel bag, police said.
Another shopkeeper came forward and said Perrone
had gone into his store and questioned him on whether he worked alone
and when he closed, police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said. Police
devoted scores of detectives to the case, he said.
"It's
reasonable to assume he was going to keep doing this, and, by arresting
him, we saved lives," Kelly said at a news conference.
Perrone,
of Staten Island, was arrested on charges of murder.
Detectives
said they found the duffel bag at his girlfriend's home. Inside, they
said, was a sawed-off rifle used in the killings, along with .22-caliber
ammunition, black gloves, women's clothing, a bloody knife and a bottle
of bleach.
The gun-rights folks love to ask what gun control laws would have prevented this or that specific crime. Obviously that's a trick question with no answer. But, if proper gun control laws were in effect, many people with his background would not be allowed to own guns.
Perrone was arrested in Franconia Township, Pa., in 2001 and charged
with stalking, harassment, burglary and public drunkenness, but those
charges were dropped when he pleaded guilty to a trespassing charge.
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