2 Charged With Murder Counts in Wendy’s Slayings

Two men accused of the execution-style slayings of five people during a robbery at a Wendy’s restaurant--one of the most shocking crimes in recent New York memory--were charged Sunday with multiple counts of murder, attempted robbery and weapon possession.

Queens Assistant Dist. Atty. Greg Lasak described in chilling detail how John Taylor, 36, and Craig Godineaux, 30, allegedly bound and gagged their victims with duct tape, then shot them one by one.

“They were marched single file into a big freezer box. They were told to get on their knees, and they were each shot by the defendants once in the head,” he said.

Lasak told Judge Michael Aloise that the defendants had given videotaped statements admitting to the shootings at the fast-food restaurant in Queens Wednesday night. In addition, he said, witnesses picked them out of a police lineup, and detectives seized money, a security tape from the restaurant’s camera and other evidence.

All seven people shot were employees of the restaurant. Five died and two survived with wounds, one of them by playing dead until the robbers left.

Queens Dist. Atty. Richard Brown has 120 days to decide whether to seek the death penalty. Brown, who has twice before recommended the death penalty, said he would use the time to investigate, talk to victims’ families and evaluate each defendant’s background, state of mind and mental capacity.

Aloise set the next hearing for June 26 and ordered the pair held without bail.

Taylor and Godineaux each were charged with 10 counts of murder in the first degree and 10 counts of murder in the second degree, plus the lesser charges.

Taylor later was placed on suicide watch, officials said.

Police say Taylor was a fugitive who jumped bail in a previous fast-food robbery and had a record stretching back to 1996, when he was sentenced to five years’ probation for trying to break into a safe at a McDonald’s where he was assistant manager.