Two killed in shooting at Wendy’s

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – A gunman in a jacket and tie wordlessly opened fire inside a Wendy’s during the lunchtime rush Monday, killing a paramedic who had gone back to fetch the right toy to go with his child’s meal and wounding five others. The 60-year-old shooter then committed suicide.

“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, who was not in uniform, had met his wife and child at the restaurant during a break in training down the street, Deputy Fire-Rescue Chief Steve Delai said. The family had gotten their food and walked out, but Vazquez returned because the wrong free toy had been included in the kids’ meal, detectives said.

Vazquez’s wife, a law enforcement officer in nearby Palm Springs, and child were in the parking lot when he was shot in the back as he stood at the counter.

“Our officer probably didn’t even see him,” Delai said of the gunman, Alburn Edward Blake.

Miller said Blake, a handyman and maintenance worker, had no relation to anyone at the restaurant and had never worked for Wendy’s, and authorities had not found any notes.

“We don’t know why he picked this location to do this horrible deed,” he said.

Vazquez had been promoted in January and was attending a course called “Strategy and Tactics” before taking his lunch break. Delai said the course teaches officers how to “manage large-scale incidents like we had today.”

The mayhem unfolded just after noon during the lunch hour rush at the eatery on a major suburban road lined with strip malls, car dealerships and fast food restaurants, about five miles from downtown West Palm Beach.

Three of the survivors were critically wounded, but all had improved and were hospitalized and stable Monday evening, Miller said. They included a 43-year-old man, a 16-year-old girl, and a 65-year-old man and his 62-year-old wife. Two others had minor injuries, including one person who was injured while running away.

Motorists at the drive-through window also fled, some leaving their vehicles running.

Blake owned a maintenance company until 2003, according to public records. A 1996 story in the Palm Beach Post reported that he accidentally ran over an 18-month-old girl with his van, seriously injuring her. The story said he had a young daughter who would now be a teenager.