Motive behind Mountain Lakes fatal shooting unclear - The Star-Ledger - NJ.com
MOUNTAIN LAKES — To neighbors in Kearny, Leonardo Parera was the friendly real estate agent and information-technology expert who was always offering to help them buy a house or solve their computer problems.
The talkative 39-year-old businessman was often seen helping his aging mother up and down the steps to their second-floor apartment.
"He was friendly and chatting with me all the time," said Akshay Pandya, owner of the neighborhood convenience store. "He was such a nice, quiet guy."
Police were investigating yesterday why Parera allegedly snapped Friday afternoon and shot a co-worker at her desk in Mountain Lakes before opening fire on officers who responded to the scene. He was killed by officers during the gunbattle in the building's parking lot.
It was unclear yesterday why Parera, who was armed with a rifle and at least one handgun, would target co-worker Christine Capone King at their office at Exit Realty Gold Service in Mountain Lakes.
"We know that they worked together, and we're gaining information," Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi said.
King, 47, was a married mother who lived in the Oak Ridge section of Jefferson Township. Aside from working together in the close-knit office, she and Parera were Facebook friends, according to their social networking pages.
Exit Realty manager and owner Ian Wolf noted the camaraderie among co-workers and said the killing had shattered the office.
"Our office is very close and our people are the most important thing to us. I'm still pretty shaken up about this," he said.
Office workers said there was no suggestion there was anything more than a professional relationship between King and Parera.
"We were all close in the office and I can tell you there was no relationship between those two," said Murray Robertson, a sales associate for the company.
King was the office manager and secretary in the Mountain Lakes office. Her desk was the first one people would see when they walked in the door, co-workers said.
A cancer survivor, she had an upbeat personality and brought "a ton of happiness" to a realty office that had been suffering through the economic downturn, Robertson said.
Parera was an agent at Exit Realty and a distressed-property specialist with an expertise in short sales and foreclosures, according to his LinkedIn web page.
Co-workers said he had an extensive information technology background and helped post real estate listings online and fix computer problems in the office.
Parera had never been violent or angry in the office and gave "no indication that he was capable of this kind of thing," Robertson said.
According to financial records, Parera had filed for bankruptcy while living in Boca Raton, Fla., in 2005. Neighbors in Kearny said he had also mentioned recently that the real estate collapse had hurt his business.
"He often asked if we wanted to buy a house and said he would help if we did," said Virgilio Luengas, who lives in the apartment directly beneath Parera's unit.
Co-workers said Friday was a normal day at Exit Realty's office on Route 46 until Parera walked into the building and shot King at her desk.
Police said Parera then walked to the parking lot, called 911 at 4:44 p.m. and reported that he had shot someone. He also told the dispatcher that he was heavily armed and that if anyone approached him, he would "escalate" the situation.
When police officers arrived in the parking lot, Parera fired three rounds before he was killed, said Bianchi, the Morris County prosecutor.
The prosecutor's office is investigating the officers' use of deadly force. But Bianchi said "these officers were justified" in firing on Parera.
Kearny police said they went to Parera's apartment early yesterday to tell his mother about the shooting. She was then taken to a local hospital for monitoring.
Parera's apartment is located in a modest brick walk-up across the street from a small park on a quiet street. Neighbors said Parera would sometimes go to the corner convenience store several times a day to buy diet soda and Monster Blue, a low-carb energy drink.
He was such a regular customer that he was allowed to run a $20 to $30 tab, said Pandya, the owner of Extra Grocery.
Parera was also one of five board members of the Heartland Actors' Repertory Theatre, a 5-year-old theater company in Indianapolis, according to the nonprofit theater's tax returns.
Mountain Lakes Shooting Update Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi gives an update Oct 15, 2011 to the shooting on Oct 14, 2011, where after being fired upon, police shot and killed the gunman Leonardo Parera, of Kearny, who moments earlier shot and killed Christine King, of Oak Ridge at the Exit Realty Gold Service office building, where she worked, on Route 46 in Mountain Lakes. (Video by Saed Hindash/The Star-Ledger) Watch video Pandya said he was shocked the always-friendly real estate agent was accused of killing someone.
"He's such a nice guy. I don't understand. He never shouted, never did anything," Pandya said.
A man who answered the door at King's house yesterday morning identified himself as her husband. But he declined to comment before closing the door on the large, two-story home decked with Halloween decorations.
Across the street from the King house, a neighbor who declined to give her name said she had been friends with King for many years.
"If you look at her Facebook page, you'll see she always had very warm things to say — inspirational things," the neighbor said.
"She was a good person and this shouldn't have happened to her."
Friends said King, a graduate of Roselle Park High School and Union County College, was active in her children's schools and a devoted mother.
King's son, Anthony, wrote about his mother's death on his Facebook page yesterday morning.
"i cant believe this is happening. mom i love you too much," said Anthony, an engineering major at Rutgers-Camden.
When a friend asked what happened, Anthony responded on his Facebook page, "my mom was shot to death last night."
He then posted lyrics from the Pink Floyd song "Wish You Were Here."
By David Giambusso and Jessica Calefati/The Star-Ledger
Staff writers Kelly Heyboer, Richard Khavkine, Nic Corbett, Mark Di Ionno and Rick Everett contributed to this report.
16 Oct, 2011--
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