A Bronx jury today convicted a crazed Co-op City janitor of murder for gunning down his ex-boss and wounding three others during a bloody revenge attack after he was fired from his job.
Paulino Valenzuela, 48, faces 25 years to life when he is sentenced in Bronx Criminal Court May 5 on a second-degree murder charge in the shooting death of Audely Bent, 59, at the sprawling Bronx housing complex.
Valenzuela had been fired in 2005 for a series of on-the-job indiscretions, including showing up drunk and bullying co-workers.
He filed a federal discrimination suit against the River Bay Corporation, claiming that Bent had fired him for no reason.
The suit was tossed, and Valenzuela got a .38 handgun, returned to his former workplace and opened fire, shooting Bent three times and also wounding Filip Zadrima, Placido Diaz and Sander Palaj, leaving Palaj a quadropalegic.
“He hit me in the neck and the bullet got stuck in my spine,” Palaj testified.
After the deadly spree, Valenzuela hopped on a city bus to the courthouse, where he surrendered and confessed. He later gave cops a videotaped confession admitting he was the gunman – but claiming Bent had it coming.
Valenzuela was also convicted of one count of attempted second-degree murder for shooting Zadrima, and two counts of first-degree assault for shooting Palaj and Diaz, and of criminal possession of a weapon.
He was acquitted of two counts of attempted second-degree murder for shooting Palaj and Diaz.
Despite his confession, Valenzuela was “stunned” by the verdict, defense lawyer Michael Torres said today.
But jurors Larissa Owens, 22, and Christina Garabito, 20, said the decision on Audley’s death was easy.
“The main debate was whether he shot those other guys deliberately,” Owens said.