Two dead in Bronx murder-suicide as Port Authority cop shoots self, woman; third victim critical

Two people, a Port Authority police officer and a woman, were left dead and an 86-year-old woman was clinging to life Thursday following a bloody murder-suicide in the Bronx, police said.

The violence began just before 8 a.m. when the. 55-year-old officer pulled a gun and shot at two women, one 59 and the other 86 years old, in back bedrooms in a first-floor apartment inside a 22-story high-rise building on Johnson Ave. near Kappock St. in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, cops said.

The man, still in his pajamas, then went into the hallway, turned his weapon on himself and pulled the trigger, shooting himself in the head, cops said.

The officer, identified by multiple law enforcement sources as Mario Garcia, had been with the Port Authority for 23 years and was currently assigned to LaGuardia Airport, officials said.

The names of the victims were not officially released Thursday, but police sources and neighbors identified the dead woman as Maria Garcia. Police did not disclose the exact relationship of those involved in the shooting, although Mario Garcia is believed to be Maria’s younger brother.

Both are believed to be the children of the older woman who was shot.

Maria Garcia was found dead in her bed, police said.

Neighbors said Maria worked for New York State and was planning to retire. She lived alone, but her elderly mother recently moved in, neighbors said.

“She loved dancing. She loved to travel. She was a very loving person. She was always wanting to be social and getting people together,” longtime neighbor Jane Burbank said. “She was wonderful. I don’t understand what happened. It’s such a shock. I can’t believe it.”

The pistol used in the shooting was found next to the cop’s body, as well as his Port Authority ID, police sources said.

The elderly woman who was also shot was found still alive with a gunshot wound to the face. EMS rushed her to Harlem Hospital, where she’s expected to survive.

On Thursday afternoon, staffers from the city’s medical examiner’s office were seen wheeling out one of the victims in a black body bag.

Neighbors were alerted to the bloodshed after multiple emergency vehicles showed up outside the building.

“I just woke up and I heard the sound of sirens,” building resident Daniel Gallent, 15, told the Daily News. “I ran out on my balcony and checked my Citizen app. I would never thought it could happen here.”

“I’ve lived (in this building) all my life,” he said. “I would never think that the building I grew up in, that there would be a shooting and I would feel unsafe here. I’m going to school for my midterms and I was supposed to study this morning, only to see this. It’s completely a shock.”

When reached, the Port Authority referred all calls to the NYPD, which was still investigating the incident Thursday.

The killing rattled residents in the quiet co-op building.

“I’ve lived in the neighborhood for nine years,” neighbor Elise Lingan, a recent addition to the building, known as “The Winston Churchill” said. “I’ve never heard anything like this happening in the neighborhood. It’s astonishing.”

The Winston Churchill, Lingan said, is home to scores of large families living next to elderly tenants and young single professionals.

“It’s pretty mixed,” she said. “That’s why I like it.”

“But I don’t like this,” she said of the killing.

With Rocco Parascandola