Man Shoots 3 In Rampage In East Village
By AL BAKER
Published: June 17, 2002
Armed with three pistols, a 30-inch sword and kerosene, a gunman unleashed a furious swirl of violence on an East Village street early yesterday, shooting three people and holding patrons of a crowded wine bar hostage before being shot and wounded by police officers who stormed in, the authorities said.
The gunman was identified as Steven Johnson, 34, a black man who has AIDS and who, the police said, told investigators he was bent on killing as many white people as he could. His plan was to die in a fire or at the hands of police officers who responded to his violence -- a phenomenon known as suicide by cop -- Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said at a news conference last evening at 1 Police Plaza.
Mr. Johnson's rampage began about 2 a.m., when he accosted a New Jersey man, Jonah Brander, as Mr. Brander and a friend walked on 11th Street between Second and Third Avenues, the police said.
''I have a problem with you,'' Commissioner Kelly quoted Mr. Johnson as saying before Mr. Johnson put a gun to Mr. Brander's head and demanded his wallet. Seconds later, he shot Mr. Brander in the torso, grabbed a woman passing by, Elin Juselius, 20, in a headlock and fired his black .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun three more times, the police said. The gunman then chased Mr. Brander around the corner into a narrow wine bar and Italian restaurant, Bar Veloce, at 175 Second Avenue, the police said.
There, he shot Mr. Brander, 28, again in the torso and, as the victim lay wedged in the doorway of Bar Veloce, ordered the 40 or so patrons into the back, where they huddled in terror as he sprayed kerosene on them and threatened them by repeatedly flicking a barbecue lighter, the police said.
''As this was happening, witnesses say Johnson was quoted ranting about white people and vowed revenge for thousands of years of suffering,'' Commissioner Kelly said. ''He also mentioned that this was, quote, 'fun,' and that a real man chooses when he dies.''
Twice, Mr. Johnson spoke to 911 operators who made contact with the bar and restaurant, referring to himself as Mr. Gun or Guns, the police said. As he taunted his captives, Shoji Iso, 54, a worker from a nearby Japanese restaurant, peeked into the front door of Bar Veloce and the gunman fired once, hitting him in the right wrist. He also fired twice at a police car that had had arrived.
Mr. Brander managed to stumble to his feet and crawl out the door and about half a block away, where two men and a woman from an apartment across the street comforted him and cradled his head with a blue bath towel as he wondered why he had been shot.
''He was like, 'I'm going to die, I want my mom,' '' said Nicole Vacca. ''I said, 'Squeeze my hand, squeeze my hand! Look at me, look at me!' ''
Within minutes, an army of heavily armed police officers from the Emergency Service Unit descended on the corner, and more shots rang out from Bar Veloce. Two patrons, whom the police identified as Annie Hubbard and Ann Margaret Gidley, both young Manhattan residents, had jumped the gunman from behind and tried to subdue him, the police said. But Mr. Johnson, who was holding another woman, Robin Arzon, 20, by the hair, reached around and shot Ms. Hubbard in the right shin.
As the three struggled, police officers burst in. One officer from the Emergency Services Unit fired a single shot, grazing Mr. Johnson in the head and enabling the police to subdue him, the authorities said. He was charged with attempted murder and weapons possession. Other charges were pending, Commissioner Kelly said.
Mr. Brander, Ms. Hubbard and Mr. Iso were taken to Bellevue Hospital Center. Mr. Brander was in serious but stable condition last night. Ms. Hubbard and Mr. Iso were both in fair condition.
''It will be categorized as a bias crime, but this was such a bizarre event,'' Commissioner Kelly said. ''This individual was clearly deranged, possibly as a result of his wife having died.''
Other police officials said the woman, who was not identified, died of AIDS on March 4, leaving Mr. Johnson alone to raise their 10-year-old son in their apartment at 110 Humboldt Street in Williamsburg.
The shootings on a street crowded with Saturday night revelers were the latest in a series of high-profile crimes in downtown Manhattan that have served as a reminder of an earlier, more violent time in the city's history. On Wednesday, a prowler climbed into a window of an apartment building farther south, on the Lower East Side, and killed three people. And in April a Russian-born engineer was shot as he tried to resist a robbery attempt as he and a date walked around Greenwich Village. The police have arrested suspects in both of those cases.
Mr. Kelly stressed that crime in the area has dropped sharply, as it has throughout the city, and remains at low levels. And he said yesterday's shootings should not be considered typical street crime.
''I wouldn't characterize this as a crime,'' Mr. Kelly said. ''This is some bizarre event, or I think it would be fair to hypothesize that this individual wanted to be killed. Either he was going to die in a fire or the police were going to kill him.''
Inside Bar Veloce, some people escaped out a rear entrance, the police said. One man who was inside the bar said about a dozen other people escaped into the basement, where they phoned the police, then broke a window and climbed out. About 15 people were left when the gunman started ordering a woman to tie plastic handcuffs around other hostages' wrists, said Reona Kimura, one of the hostages. The gunman had apparently brought the plastic cuffs with him.
She said she had been having a drink at the bar when Mr. Brander ran in and exclaimed, ''I got shot.'' He was trailed by the gunman, who ordered everyone into the kitchen and sprayed flammable liquid on them. ''He said he wanted to blow us up,'' Ms. Kimura, 30, of Brooklyn, said, ''He was angry at white people.''
In one conversation with a police operator, Mr. Johnson warned that the people inside were wearing ''gasoline shirts'' and threatened to torch them, Mr. Kelly said.
Many witnesses who described the 45-minute siege told of at least nine shots being fired as people ducked and shrieked in fright.
When it was over, the police said, they found Mr. Johnson, wearing elbow pads and knee pads and in possession of the semiautomatic handgun, a .22-caliber Ruger pistol, a two-shot Derringer, a sword with Asian characters on its blade, plastic handcuffs, 153 rounds of ammunition and cassette tapes labeled ''My own thoughts.''
''I've never heard of anything like this happening,'' said Louise Pfister, 58, who owns eight buildings in the area.
The police said that Mr. Johnson had a criminal record dating from 1985, and had been arrested at least three times in the last nine years.
In 1993, he was arrested in North Carolina and charged with carrying a concealed weapon; two years later, he was arrested in Brooklyn and charged with the illegal possession of a firearm; and in 1999, he was arrested in Orange County, Florida, and charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, the police said.
Investigators who searched Mr. Johnson's home at 110 Humboldt Street found pictures of guns and a note scrawled on the wall: ''Tell the boys in blue I won't be easy,'' the police said.
He also left a note with the instruction, ''In the event of my demise, open this card.'' It was, officers said, a note to tell his son that he loved him and instructing him to lead a good life and to know that his father would always be his guardian angel.
Photos: Patrons of Bar Veloce in the East Village were held hostage by a man who sprayed kerosene on them and then threatened to set them afire early yesterday, according to the police. Three people and the suspect were shot. (Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times); Steven Johnson sprayed bar patrons with kerosene, the police said. (pg. B3)
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/17/nyregion/man-shoots-3-in-rampage-in-east-village.html
