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ROYAL PALM BEACH, Fla. - The wife of a paramedic gunned down at a Wendy's said Thursday she is struggling to understand what led a 60-year-old handyman to commit the rampage that killed her husband.
"The depression with this man must have been great. I can't forgive him yet," Michele Vazquez said. "I'm still angry, but I also know he has a family that is just as confused and angry as I am."
Vazquez spoke at a news conference outside Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue Station 28, where her husband, Lt. Rafael Vazquez, served.
The couple and their 4-year-old son had left the restaurant just before Monday's shooting in suburban West Palm Beach, but Rafael Vazquez had returned to exchange a promotional toy his son got with his meal. Alburn Edward Blake shot him in the back and wounded four other customers before killing himself. The wounded are all recovering at hospitals.
"This needs to stop," Michele Vazquez said. "The tragedies need to stop. No more families need to go through this."
She remembered her 42-year-old husband as a jokester with a quick wit and an infectious smile who would help anyone in need. Aside from their young son, the couple have four children between them from prior relationships.
"I thank God every day for giving me the 13 years that I had with him," she said.
A funeral for Vazquez was set for Friday.
Authorities have not determined Blake's motive, but said he was having minor financial problems. He owed several hundred dollars on his car and was paying more than $600 a month in child support to an ex-girlfriend whom he had a child with. Results from toxicology tests on Blake could take weeks.
No one had yet claimed his body, which remained at the medical examiner's office Thursday.
Meanwhile, authorities were able to retrieve the filed-off serial numbers on the gun used in the shootings and traced it to a Lake Worth shop, said Paul Miller, a spokesman for the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.
Miller said the gun was purchased from the Palm Beach Shooting Center in December by a friend of Blake's and sold to him for $600 in January. Authorities did not identify the man but said no criminal charges would be filed.
Miller said there was nothing to indicate Blake was planning the shootings when he bought the gun.
"The depression with this man must have been great. I can't forgive him yet," Michele Vazquez said. "I'm still angry, but I also know he has a family that is just as confused and angry as I am."
Vazquez spoke at a news conference outside Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue Station 28, where her husband, Lt. Rafael Vazquez, served.
The couple and their 4-year-old son had left the restaurant just before Monday's shooting in suburban West Palm Beach, but Rafael Vazquez had returned to exchange a promotional toy his son got with his meal. Alburn Edward Blake shot him in the back and wounded four other customers before killing himself. The wounded are all recovering at hospitals.
"This needs to stop," Michele Vazquez said. "The tragedies need to stop. No more families need to go through this."
She remembered her 42-year-old husband as a jokester with a quick wit and an infectious smile who would help anyone in need. Aside from their young son, the couple have four children between them from prior relationships.
"I thank God every day for giving me the 13 years that I had with him," she said.
A funeral for Vazquez was set for Friday.
Authorities have not determined Blake's motive, but said he was having minor financial problems. He owed several hundred dollars on his car and was paying more than $600 a month in child support to an ex-girlfriend whom he had a child with. Results from toxicology tests on Blake could take weeks.
No one had yet claimed his body, which remained at the medical examiner's office Thursday.
Meanwhile, authorities were able to retrieve the filed-off serial numbers on the gun used in the shootings and traced it to a Lake Worth shop, said Paul Miller, a spokesman for the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.
Miller said the gun was purchased from the Palm Beach Shooting Center in December by a friend of Blake's and sold to him for $600 in January. Authorities did not identify the man but said no criminal charges would be filed.
Miller said there was nothing to indicate Blake was planning the shootings when he bought the gun.
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