Agent: Fla. restaurant shooter is half-brother of former New York Yankees star ‘El Duque’

Agent: Fla. shooter is half-brother of ‘El Duque’

HIALEAH, Fla. — A gunman who shot and killed his wife and three other women at a South Florida restaurant before committing suicide was the half-brother of former baseball star Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez.

Hernandez’s agent, Mike Maulini, told the Spanish-language newspaper El Nuevo Herald that the family does not know what caused 38-year-old Gerardo Regalado to shoot seven women Sunday night at a Hialeah restaurant.

Three women remained hospitalized Monday.

Maulini said Regalado came to Miami from Cuba in 2006. He says Regalado tried not to rely on Hernandez for work and was “a good boy.” However, records show that the house where police said Regalado lived belonged to Hernandez.

In a statement, Hernandez said he offered his sympathy to the families of the victims.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

HIALEAH, Fla. (AP) — A gunman shot and killed his wife outside a South Florida restaurant where she worked, then targeted women inside and killed three others before committing suicide, police said Monday.

Police said the shooter bypassed at least two men when he fired at the women inside. Three women were hospitalized in critical condition, Hialeah police Detective Eddie Rodriguez said.

“He went straight for the women,” Rodriguez said.

The shooting Sunday night began in a parking lot outside the Yoyito Restaurant in Hialeah, where 38-year-old Gerardo Regalado of Coral Gables was seen arguing with Liazan Molina, Rodriguez said. According to Florida marriage records, the couple married in 2007.

According to police, Regalado shot and killed Molina, 24, then entered the restaurant and fired at six women inside.

One employee called her brother after the shooting, saying she had been shot and was bleeding.

Felix Fuentes said his sister, Ivet Coronado, told him to “please call 911.” He said the 36-year-old woman was recovering Monday after undergoing surgery for gunshot wounds to her chest and one of her arms.

Regalado drove off after the shooting, police said. Officers found him dead of an apparent suicide a few blocks away, with the same weapon used in the restaurant shootings, Rodriguez said.

People inside the Coral Gables house where Regalado and Molina lived refused to answer a reporter’s knocks at the door. A person who answered the phone identified himself only as a family friend and said the family didn’t want to talk.

It was not immediately clear if the women shot were restaurant employees or customers. The shooting began at 10:15 p.m., shortly after the restaurant had closed.

A spokeswoman for Jackson Memorial Hospital declined to release any information about the three women being treated there because all had requested privacy. No contact information for one survivor, Yasmine Dominguez, could be found. There was no answer at the Hialeah Gardens mobile home of the third, 55-year-old Mayra Delacaridad.

No working phone number could be found for Molina’s relatives in the Miami area. At the Hialeah home of 56-year-old Zaida Castillo, a relative said her family did not want to speak with reporters.

Two other victims, 32-year-old Maysel Figueroa and 47-year-old Lavina Fonseca, lived next door to each other in Hialeah. People inside Fonseca’s home refused to answer the door, and a neighbor said Figueroa had lived in her small cottage for only about six months.

Regular customers in the city, which has a large Cuban-American population, gathered in shock outside the restaurant Monday morning.

“They are good people,” said Valentin Perez, 52, who visits the restaurant for his Cuban coffee every morning.

Octavio Guzman, another customer, said the restaurant workers are always generous with those who can’t afford a meal.

“You tell anyone here, ‘I’m hungry and I don’t have money,’ and they give it to you,” Guzman said.

Associated Press writers Christine Armario and Jennifer Kay in Miami contributed to this report.