The madman who shot a former co-worker near the Empire State Building left his apartment Friday morning with no intention of ever returning. “I’m not going to be back after Friday anyway,†Johnson said, according to the police source. Click below to find out more.
The upper East Side co-op Jeffrey Johnson was subletting was about to be renovated, so the owner needed him to move out temporarily, a police source said.
Around 7:30 a.m. Friday, Johnson, wearing the same gray suit he wore nearly every day since losing his fashion job, waltzed by the building super and waved goodbye.
He left his keys behind in an envelope, having assured the co-op owner that relocating posed no problem.
“I’m not going to be back after Friday anyway,†Johnson said, according to the police source.
Ninety minutes later, Johnson died in a hail of police bullets after executing the man he blamed for losing his job. Police say he pumped five bullets from a .45-caliber handgun into Steve Ercolino’s head.
Investigators later found a creepy trove of books in Johnson’s apartment, a source said Sunday, including “Techniques and Equipment of the Deadly Marksmen Snipers†and “Attack Proof — the Ultimate Guide to Personal Protection.â€
A plastic case lay nearby, containing 15 rounds of ammunition — the same kind Johnson used to settle his grudge.
Police were preparing Sunday to comb through files on his computers, hoping to unearth more clues into the killing on W. 33rd St. Contrary to published reports, Johnson was not facing eviction, police sources said.
The 58-year-old former Coast Guard petty officer was shot seven times by police minutes after he killed Ercolino, vice president of sales at Hazan Imports.
Hero construction worker Brian Dillon, 44, witnessed the crime while working on a loading dock outside the Empire State Building. He tailed Johnson and pointed him out to two cops.
“Someone like that isn’t supposed to walk the street,†Dillon told the Daily News.
Officers Craig Matthews, 39, and Robert Sinishtaj, 40, gunned Johnson down as he turned his handgun on them.
