Fired worker held in fatal shooting at his former job site

NEW YORK â€”  A fired housing development porter whose job discrimination lawsuit had been dismissed fatally shot a former supervisor and wounded two other workers at the Bronx community before turning himself in at a local courthouse, police said Thursday.

Paulino Valenzuela, 44, was charged with murder, manslaughter and assault. He had been fired two years ago and last week had a job discrimination lawsuit tossed out of federal court, officials said.

Valenzuela turned up shortly before 8 a.m. at the immense Co-op City community and started firing a handgun, police said.

Killed was Audley Bent, 59, of Queens, who had been a Co-op City maintenance supervisor and, according to court records, at one point had an acrimonious relationship with Valenzuela. Two other men who worked in maintenance, Sander Palaj, 47, and Phillip Zadrima, 53, were wounded and taken to Jacobi Medical Center, police said.

Palaj, an Albanian immigrant who immigrated to the United States 18 years ago and had worked at Co-op City for about eight years, was in critical condition with a wound to his throat.

Zadrima, 53, a maintenance supervisor at the housing development, said he was sitting by his office when the gunman burst in.

“I was sitting in front of my office about a quarter to 8, waiting for people to start work,� Zadrima recalled at the hospital, where he was treated for a superficial shoulder wound. “He came around a pole and said, ‘Hey . . . I’m going to kill you.’ His face was full of blood, and he had blood on his hand.

“He started shooting, and I started running.�

Immediately after the shootings, officials said, people saw Valenzuela boarding a city bus, which he apparently took to the Bronx Criminal Court, where he turned himself in to a court officer.