Gunman Kills Wife, 2 Others at Store

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 bulletproof 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 section, and the store manager. He then walked outside and fired randomly, hitting a woman in the leg, authorities said.

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.

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.

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

Outside the store, witnesses said iron worker Kairk Billings ran up behind the gunman and knocked him to the ground as the man was on his knees firing.

Billings then helped deputies subdue the gunman, witnesses said.

Authorities did not immediately release the names of Petrosky’s wife and the store manager, but co-workers said the dead woman was Terry Petrosky, 37.