A grandfather, his son and grandson were shot to death today in an Upper West Side apartment by a man who wounded the youngest victim’s mother before falling to his death from a fire escape, police said.
The shooter, Hector Quinones – who a neighbor says had been out of jail for two days, opened fire inside apartment 3S of 492 Amsterdam Ave., between W. 83rd and W. 84th streets, shattering the peace at 1:45 p.m.
A man in his 20s and his father were fatally wounded in a bedroom, while the younger victim’s grandfather was shot to death in a bathroom, police said.
All three men are named Carlos Rodriguez, according to a source close to the family and a police source.
The gunman dropped his weapon and tried to flee down a fire escape — but slipped and fell to his death, authorities said.
‘‘We don’t know the motive but we’re looking to see if it’s drug related,’’ a police source said.
‘‘The shooter fell to his death from the window while attempting to escape.‘’
Authorities said he was wearing rubber gloves. Sources said he was recently released from prison.
A .380 caliber hollow-point semiautomatic gun was found in the apartment. A bloody knife was also found there, but it’s unclear what role it played in the massacre.
Gisela Rodriguez, 49, mom of the youngest victim, and her daughter came home after the shootings, to find the suspect still in the apartment.
The mother was pistol whipped but the daughter ran to the back bedroom, where two of the bodies were found. She escaped through a window and climbed to the roof.
The mother managed to escape the shooter. She was taken to St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital in stable condition.
‘‘She walked into this in progress but managed to escape with her life,’’ a police source said.
The shooter then ran into the kitchen and climbed onto a fire escape, where he slipped and fell to his death.
When the daughter got to the roof, she screamed, startling construction workers.
“My brother and father have been shot,” she shrieked.
Sources said a bedroom was ransacked, apparently after the shootings. Narcotics detectives huddled outside the apartment awaiting a search warrant to look for contraband.
Neighbors said the wounded woman was alive and talking moments after the shooting, said a witness, Dimitri Vezyrakis, 42, owner of Caesar’s Palace Pizza across the street.
‘‘They rushed her into the ambulance,” Vezyrakis said. “I saw blood on the covers of the sheets.’’
The wild scene stunned neighbors along Amsterdam.
The dead grandfather was nicknamed ‘‘Cubano’’ and neighbors said he loved walking his 10-year-old granddaughter and 7-year-old grandson to school, PS 78, every morning.
‘‘He never bothered anyone,’’ said neighbor Dileen Costas.
‘‘It was like clock work — a little after 8, he’d walk his grandkids to school. He loved those kids.’’
‘‘It was all happening right in front of our bar. Traffic slowed down. We saw a being man taken away on a gurney,’’ said Lindsey Hilyard, bartender at George Keeleys across the street.
“I just saw tons of cop cars and ambulances,” Hilyard said, “but it was pretty much over by the time I got here.”
The building manager at 482 Amsterdam said a woman in her 30s rushed to the roof of the building and told workers what had happened.
“She just ran in and told the contracting guys there was a shooting, there’s somebody who got shot!” said the building manager, who declined to identify herself. “She was hysterical, she couldn’t talk.’’
One of the contractors called 911 and cops took the woman and workers away from the scene for questioning.
‘‘I was setting up my bar and I looked out across to see police running into 492 [Amsterdam Ave.], into the building between the bicycle shop and the barber,’’ said Matthew Hughes, a bartender and manager at George Keeleys.
‘‘It’s been baffling to me what happened. I saw them place a woman in an ambulance. She was on stretcher holding her purse. She was alive but needing medical attention.”
Additional reporting by Edmund DeMarche