Melbourne mall open after deadly shooting

• Melbourne Square mall reopened Sunday%2C the day after a shooting left two dead.
• The shooter%27s wife%2C who worked at the mall%2C was listed in good condition at a Brevard hospital.

UPDATE, 6 p.m.

A 36-year-old owner-operator of a pizza restaurant in Melbourne Square was identified this afternoon as the third victim in Saturday's shooting in the mall's food court.

Leonardo Coppola of West Melbourne died of his injuries. Police said he was trying to move Idanerys Garcia-Rodriguez out of harm's way when he was shot at Scotto Pizza.

UPDATE, 1 p.m.:

There were a half dozen flower bouquets and several illuminated white candles displayed on the countertops of Scotto Pizza, which was closed today after yesterday's shooting.

The restaurant, which is in Melbourne Square's food court, was not roped off and there were people speaking in hushed tones in front of the nearby Subway.

A few minutes after noon, the mall's official opening time, there were about 20 people in the food court and several customers appeared to be asking questions about the incident while they were placing orders at the food counters.

Previous story, 12:00 p.m.: Melbourne Square mall is now open, the day after a gunman shot his wife and fatally wounded another man in the food court before killing himself.

Melbourne police say Jose Garcia Rodriguez, 57, carried out the shooting, scattering dozens of mall shoppers and employees in what detectives believe stems from a domestic dispute in the relationship with his wife.

The shooter's wife, Ida Garcia, 33, who worked at the mall, was listed in good condition at a local hospital, police reported late Saturday. Today, several Melbourne police cars remain stationed in and around the mall.

"We're planning on allowing the mall to reopen. The mall is sending in their security team to make an assessment of the mall," said Sgt. John Chapman of the Melbourne police department.

"Everything looks like it's going to happen. We plan on meeting with the team in the next half-hour," Chapman said at around 8 a.m.

Police did not identify the other man killed in the incident.

Previous story:

P olice began receiving 9-1-1 calls at about 9:31 a.m. Saturday reporting shots fired the mall, Melbourne Police Cmdr. Vince Pryce said. Officers from Melbourne, Melbourn e Village, Palm Bay, the Brevard County Sheriff's Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation responded.

The first officers on the scene could hear shots still being fired. The officers formed "active shooter" teams and entered the mall and were able to contain the situation, Pryce said.

Jose Garcia is believed to have died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said. They had not yet determined how many shots were fired, but recovered three handguns at the scene.

Investigators have released few other details of the shooting, which remains under investigation. But Melbourne Mayor Kathy Meehan, who was briefed by a police official, said Garcia shot his wife. A co-worker of the wife tried to get the gun away from the Garcia, but was shot in the struggle and killed.

Most stores in the mall don't open until 10 a.m. and police said about 100 people were in the mall at the time of the shooting. Most were employees of businesses preparing to open for the day as well as some others walking in the mall. Many were able to escape as the incident unfolded.

After the shooting ended, police officers swept through the mall to make sure there were no further threats and to escort people from the building.

The mall will be closed for at least the remainder of the day. Restaurants in standalone buildings on mall property were open. Mall officials say they will open as normal at noon on Sunday.

Elizabeth Trickle and Donna Evans, both of Melbourne, were in the food court preparing to eat when Trickle said she heard a "pop, pop."

Story continues below:

"I was running one way,'' Trickle said. "(Evans) was running another way and then she came back and she got me and we ran through the exit at Dillard's."

"It was a frightening experience, something that you don't ever want anybody to experience. It was crazy. We had just gotten our food to sit down by Starbucks and Chik-fil-A, and you just hear the 'pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop,' and you just drop everything and your body just makes you run," said Evans, who estimates she was 20 to 25 feet away initially.

"Very, very lucky. 'Cause If it would have been the other way, it would've been us because we were right in the line of it, so yes, God is on my shoulder whether people believe in it or not," added Evans.

Janet Mungeer was getting here hair done when she started hearing shots. "There were like ten of them so we ran out the back," the Palm Bay woman said. "I'm still kind of shooken up."

"We got out right away but they kept us in a little area," Mungeer said.

"I feel thankful that we didn't get shot," she added. "It make me a little nervous that something like this happened here, you know, you don't expect it."