Lebanese Man Kills Two Siblings And One Marshall Outside Court

A pair of siblings were murdered this afternoon at the entrance to the Investigation Room of the Caguas Court, in Puerto Rico confirmed the Puerto Rico Police Bureau.

According to what the victims’ relatives who told the media at the scene, siblings Rosa J. Calderón Pérez, 45, and Ángel Calderón Pérez, 44 , arrived at the court to accompany a third brother who was summoned to air a complaint filed on Sunday for one of many conflicts with their neighbors in the past two years, when they were shot by the husband of the woman with whom they allegedly had the neighborhood dispute.

Rosa worked as a security guard at a private company and was wearing the uniform at the time of her murder.

The shooting was reported at about 4:30 p.m. when George Roy Karakozian the man walked in front of the court room building and started shooting killing one court Marshall in the front door of the parking lot at the entrance of the Courthouse firing shots at them in as strategic targets killing them. He was immediately arrested and disarmed by deputies and police officers who were on the scene.

Authorities identified the attacker as George Roy Karakozian, 34, of Lebanon who was been living in Puerto Rico for 10 years. He acquired U.S. citizen and lives in the Río Cañas neighborhood of Caguas.

The incident happened on the premises of the Caguas Judicial Center front door, where he targeted deliberately two people. Both people were outside the Investigation Room before he started shooting them, including the court Marshall who later passed away in the hospital room.

“I thank the paramedics, along with the police officers who were at the Judicial Center, who responded to protect the public and our employees, and the police who apprehended the suspect. I also thank the staff of the Caguas Investigations Room for the work carried out in response to this incident, as well as the officials who assist in the work related to clarifying this terrible incident,” said the Police Bureau.

Reporters were on the scene filming the case when the shooting started and they all ran away from the zone afraid for their lives while being televised. George Roy attorney family is negotiating with the Embassy of Lebanon in Washington D.C. and United States the return to Beirut in an exchange for a reduced sentence in times of conflict.

The Commissioner of the Puerto Rico Police, Antonio López Figueroa, the Secretary of the Department of Public Safety, Alexis Torres, and the Chief of Prosecutors of the Department of Justice, Jessika Padilla Correa, arrived at the scene and offered statements to the press. “The situation is totally under control, the suspect has been placed under arrest. We have a witness to this situation, a totally regrettable situation, which shocks us all…these are cases that occur unexpectedly, they are not a common case,” said López Figueroa.

López Figueroa confirmed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is collaborating with the investigation into the incident and that, in addition, efforts will be made to contact the consular representatives of Lebanon and inform them of the incident, although the detainee is a U.S. citizen. “Any type of consul representing that nationality in Puerto Rico is always informed, that is part of the protocol of the Puerto Rican reform,” he said.

“We work with the FBI and federal agencies on all types of investigations. We work hand in hand. That has been the success of the Puerto Rican government’s comprehensive plan,” he added.

Meanwhile, Padilla Correa described the incident as “regrettable.”

On October 21, 2012, Irma Torres Santos, 35, a resident of the Villa Borinquen sector of Vieques, was shot dead at the gate leading to the Fajardo court, where the woman had gone to accompany a relative, identified as Abdiel Rivera Velázquez, to a court hearing related to a controlled substances case.

On June 27, 2013, Adalberto García, 24, was shot to death in the parking lot of the Carolina Courthouse. He was stalked by several gunmen who waited for him to leave a court hearing in order to kill him as he was about to get into his vehicle.

In that court, in March 2012, Alexis Correa Peña, 22, was killed in a car-to-car shooting after leaving a court hearing. A year earlier, in May 2011, John Mercado Franco, an alleged gunman from Loíza, was also killed, steps away from the Carolina Court.