Gunman Kills Three At Supermarket

A gunman possibly distraught over marital problems opened fire at a supermarket Friday and killed three people, including his wife and a sheriff’s sergeant, authorities said. One person was wounded.

A construction worker tackled the gunman outside the store and helped Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies subdue him.

Albert L. Petrosky, 35, was being held at the Jefferson County Jail for investigation of first-degree murder and assault.

The gunman, wearing a bullet-proof jacket or vest, walked into an Albertson’s store in this Denver suburb during the morning with a pistol, an assault rifle equipped with a bipod and a rifle fitted with a telescopic sight, Undersheriff Doug Matthews said.

He fatally shot his wife, who managed the store’s deli, and the store manager. He then walked outside and fired randomly, hitting a woman in the leg.

The gunman next turned his weapons on a sheriff’s sergeant who was getting out of his patrol car, killing him with shots in the chest, face and abdomen, Matthews said.

“People were screaming and yelling and they were crouched down,” witness Kelly McCormick said.

“It was just a very frightening scene,” said John O’Hanesian, who lives behind the Albertson’s. “I could see people running in every direction.”

The shootings may have stemmed from domestic problems between Petrosky and his wife, authorities said.

She had obtained a restraining order against her husband on Monday after telling a Denver County judge that Petrosky verbally and physically abused her, authorities said. The restraining order directed Petrosky to stay 100 yards away from his wife and their 8-year-old son.

Store workers said Petrosky had threatened his wife in a telephone call to the store Thursday night.

“He said he was going to kill her,” Shannon Cousing said.