Collection of Articles about Police Officers Killed by Semi- Automatic ...

Manhattan, DeJesus went to work for an appliance repair service in College Point,
Queens.
His boss, Cathy Donnelly, sympathized with the plight of the unwed couple with a baby.
She took a chance on them, putting up the first month's rent and security deposit so
they could get an apartment in College Point.
"He seemed like a nice man," Donnelly said. "He was working hard here. He wanted to
get his own place. I gave him a loan so he could get his own place."
For about six months, DeJesus worked as a dispatcher, sending workers to repair jobs.
He was eager to get out of the office and do repairs.
One day in May 1999, Donnelly said, Gutierrez called her to say DeJesus wouldn't be at
work that day. When Donnelly asked for details, Gutierrez said he had been arrested for
shoplifting.
"I said, "Is there a history of that?' She said, "Yeah,' " Donnelly recalled. "I told Paula, "I
hope you understand I can't have him working here.' "
Soon after, Donnelly recalled, DeJesus returned to her office. He wasn't there to beg for
his job back. "Thank you for everything you tried to do to help me," he told Donnelly.
"I'm sorry I screwed up."
Donnelly added: "He didn't have to come to my office."
It was several months after losing his job that DeJesus brought his family to Tampa,
where his mother had moved.
"(Paula) was very sad to be leaving her family because they were still in New York," said
Laurie Kozicki, a former landlord in Queens. "He was basically going to Florida because
his family was there, and to better his little family."
In New York, DeJesus' record shows a history of petty crimes from November 1993 to
May 1999, including charges of graffiti, fighting in public, shoplifting from Macy's and
trying to beat a subway fare.
In Florida, the family struggled to make ends meet on the $13-an-hour job DeJesus
found repairing air conditioners. Gutierrez did not work, and the couple preferred it that
way, their families said, so she could stay at home with Ashley.
Money was tight, and pressures mounted.
In February, DeJesus stormed into the Allied Tire and Service Center on N Dale Mabry
Highway and began yelling at employees, witnesses said. He demanded that they mount
the tires on his car, but before they could run his credit card through the machine, he
snatched the card away. Then, he grabbed an employee's hand and scratched it so hard
the hand bled.
Employee Scott Roberts said he had no idea what set DeJesus off.
The State Attorney's Office filed misdemeanor battery charges against DeJesus in March,
but he didn't show up for a court appearance in April. The judge issued a notice for his
arrest.
About six weeks ago, DeJesus quit his job over an argument with his boss. He became
ashamed of being unemployed, his family said.
"It bothered him that I paid for everything," his mother said, including the Xterra she
bought him for Christmas in 1999, under the agreement he keep up the payments.
She struggled to explain the final actions of her son, who finally "cracked," she said.