Chester man charged with murder in ‘cold-blooded shooting’ that killed two coworkers, injured three others, DA says

The gunman who shot five of his coworkers — killing two brothers and wounding three others — at a Chester industrial laundry and linen company Wednesday morning calmly walked through the facility as he fired a handgun at his victims in a “cold-blooded shooting,” Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said Thursday.

Wilbert Rosado-Ruiz, 61, of Chester, was charged with two counts of first-degree homicide in the deaths of brothers Leovanny Peña Peña, 30, and Giguenson Peña Peña, 26, as well as multiple counts of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, and a firearms charge.

According to Stollsteimer, Rosado-Ruiz, an employee of Delaware County Linen since 2016, had a verbal dispute with a female coworker on the morning of the shooting. After Rosado-Ruiz walked outside to make a phone call, Stollsteimer said, security footage showed that he returned to the laundry facility, pulled the gun from his waistband, and shot the woman in the chest before calmly and “methodically” pacing the building and firing at four others, killing the Peña Peña brothers.

“I’m tired of people f— with me,” Rosado-Ruiz said before shooting a surviving victim in the back, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.

» READ MORE: A ‘disgruntled employee’ of a Chester linen company killed two coworkers and injured three others, police say

He then attempted to shoot a sixth person, the affidavit said, but the gun jammed, or was out of ammunition. Investigators found two bullet casings outside the laundromat, and at least eight inside, the document said.

As Rosado-Ruiz left the building, Stollsteimer said, security footage showed him “calmly” walking toward his black Toyota Scion. When he happened upon his injured female coworker outside, he ran toward her and fired his gun at her again but missed, the district attorney said.

On Thursday, two of the surviving victims were listed in stable condition, while a third was in critical but stable condition, officials said. Stollsteimer said he did not yet know whether Rosado-Ruiz targeted his victims, including the brothers, who he said “were just there trying to work.”

“This is an incident where he walked around the factory and started shooting at people,” Stollsteimer said. “It’s mind-numbing to see it, knowing what he’s doing.”

Employees of the linen business had expressed concerns about Rosado-Ruiz in the past, Stollsteimer said, and the day before the shooting had met with company management about the man’s behavior.

When officers arrived on the frenzied scene on West Fourth Street in Chester’s West End about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, they first found Leovanny Peña Peña lying dead outside the building’s entrance, police said. Inside, Police Commissioner Steven Gretzky said, officers found another victim and quickly applied a tourniquet to stem the flow of blood before using a laundry bin to wheel him outside for help. Continuing the search of the building, Gretzky said, police found Giguenson Peña Peña dead near the back entrance of the facility.

As Rosado-Ruiz drove away in his Scion, Gretzky said, neighbors gave police the description of the car, which helped officers to quickly arrest him near the intersection of Kane and Culhane Streets.

Rosado-Ruiz had legally purchased the handgun, a 9mm Remington R51 semi-automatic pistol, that he used “to massacre people” on Wednesday in 2018, Stollsteimer said, but did not have a license to carry it concealed, as he did at the linen business.

Several dozen employees were working at the family-owned business — which has supplied towels and linens to hotels, restaurants and other clients in the region since 1988 — when gunshots ran out, sending panicked workers bolting for the door.

“He was coming after everyone like crazy, I didn’t know where to go, but he went straight after two guys,” one shaken employee said outside the linen company in the aftermath of the shooting, as clusters of workers huddled behind crime scene tape, comforting each other.

By Thursday afternoon, there were few, if any, signs that a shooting had taken place at the business the day before.

The police tape that surrounded the building was gone, and no memorials had been set up at the scene. Only a light hum of washing machines emerged from the facility as employees returned to work.

Outside, Vincent Marsero, who owns the business, sat bleary-eyed in his truck in the parking lot, taking calls. He declined to discuss the shooting, the victims, or the alleged shooter.

After a sleepless night, Marsero said, he considered closing business for the day, but in deference to employees who he said were looking for a sense of normalcy, he decided to give workers the option to come in. Most did, he said.

“I’m the leader of this family,” said Marsero. “I’ve got to support them.”

Staff writer Chris Palmer contributed to this article.