A worker has been charged in the deadly shooting at a linen company near Philadelphia, which was seemingly triggered by an ongoing dispute the gunman had with a female colleague.
Wilbert Rosado-Ruiz on Thursday was charged with two counts of first-degree homicide in the deaths of 30-year-old Leovanny Peña Peña and his 26-year-old brother Giguenson Peña Peña, in addition to multiple counts of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, and a firearms charge. They stem from a shooting at Delaware County Linen in Chester, a city about 18 miles south of Philadelphia.
According to Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer, Rosado-Ruiz, an employee at the company since 2016, had an argument with a female coworker on Wednesday shortly before the violence unfolded. Security footage shows Rosado-Ruiz at one point walk outside to make a phone call, then returning to the facility and pulling a firearm from his waistband.
Stollsteimer said Rosado-Ruiz walked “methodically” through the business as he unleashed his hail of gunfire.
“I’m tired of people f—ing with me,” Rosado-Ruiz said before shooting a surviving victim in the back, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest, per the Philadelphia Inquirer.
In addition to the murdered brothers, another three people — including the woman Rosado-Ruiz had been feuding with — were wounded in the “cold-blooded shooting,” Stollsteimer added.
When officers arrived on the scene around 8:30 a.m., they first discovered Leovanny Peña Peña dead outside the building’s entrance, police commissioner Steven Gretzky said. Inside, officers found another victim and quickly applied a tourniquet to stem the flow of blood before using a laundry bin to wheel him outside. Officers also eventually found Giguenson Peña Peña dead near the back entrance of the facility.
Rosado-Ruiz had already fled the scene in his black Toyota Scion before the police response. He was apprehended a short time later by an officer who had heard the vehicle description and stopped the car at a location in Chester, not far from where the suspect lives, according to authorities.
Stollsteimer said he did yet not know whether Rosado-Ruiz targeted his victims, including the brothers, whom he said “were just there trying to work.” It is also unclear what sparked the dispute with his female coworker.
“This is an incident where he walked around the factory and started shooting at people,” Stollsteimer said. “It’s mind-numbing to see it, knowing what he’s doing.”
Rosado-Ruiz legally owned the gun that was used in the shooting, but he will face a weapons count because he did not have a license to carry a concealed weapon.
With News Wire Services
