Firefighter, gunman dead and 5 injured in shooting at Florida restaurant

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A gunman wearing a jacket and tie randomly and wordlessly opened fire inside a Wendy's restaurant during the lunchtime rush Monday, killing a firefighter who had gone back to fetch his child's toy and wounding five other diners. He then turned the gun on himself. "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, a Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue lieutenant, had met his wife and child at the restaurant, Deputy Fire-Rescue Chief Steve Delai said. The family had just left, but the man returned to retrieve a toy his child had left behind and was shot in the back as he stood at the counter, Delai said. "Our officer probably didn't even see him," Delai said, adding that the man's wife and child were still in the parking when the shooting broke out. Three of the survivors were in critical condition, sheriff's spokeswoman Teri Barbera said. Two others had minor injuries, including one person who was injured while running away.