Three days after a shooting left seven dead in Hialeah, NBC 6 learned more about the shooter, Pedro Vargas.
According to Alex Perez, owner of the Florida Gun Center, Vargas legally bought a gun there three years ago in October 2010. It was a Glock 17 Gen4, he said.
Police haven't confirmed if that's the gun Vargas used to kill six people, hold two others hostage and fire at police before being killed by SWAT team members during a violent standoff at an apartment complex on West 46th Street.
Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernandez says he has the same questions that everybody has
"What was he thinking of, what was the motive , why would you do this and that adds to this frustration , this sadness," Hernandez said.
That frustration continues to grow as do the memorials remembering those who lost their lives in theshooting. 79-year-old Italo and 69-year-old Samira Pisciotti, the husband and wife who managed the building where Vargas lived with his 83 year old mother for the last twelve years.
Neighbor Wilfredo Riberon says he saw Vargas every day and that he was cordial. Others say he regularly exercised at the L.A. Fitness Gym in Hialeah. No one can explain what would make him start a fire and set $10,000 on ablaze in his apartment then massacre the elderly couple before killing neighbor 17-year-old Priscilla Perez , her mother Merly Niebles and stepfather Patricio Simono.
At the scene of the crime, Yorda Martin showed up before noon Monday in the parking lot on West 46th Street with 50 doves in crates in honor of those killed while across the street others began a second memorial in the spot where the last victim died. Thirty-three-year-old Carlos Gavilanes was killed when he was coming home with his 9-year-old son.
“The doves give me peace," he said. He released three crates and the trained birds rose together into the sky.
He said that as the doves find their way home, he hopes others hurting from what happened will find their way too.
Police spokesman Carl Zogby said the strategy was always to take out the threat, especially once negotiations broke down with Vargas, who was pointing his gun at his hostages.
"And perhaps it was our response in pursuing him, which is our tactic now, we don't wait, we don't wait 'em out, we don't sit outside the building and engage him before he continues to kill people," Zogby said.
Anthony Delgado, the owner of the building where the shooting took place says he will help pay for the funerals of the six victims. Delgado also confirmed to NBC 6 that the shooter was a paying tenant that lived in that fourth floor apartment with his elderly mother for the last 12 years. A tenant who apparently never gave them any trouble. He was not being evicted, but Housing Authorities told NBC 6 Vargas' mom Esperanza Patterson applied for Section 8 assistance 7 times in the last 17 years but was denied.
"You don't know them until things like that happen," said tenant Carlos Alvarez. "The guy that did that was a nice guy. A quite guy. He always say hello."
Photo Credit: NBC 6 South Florida