A feud with a neighbor turned deadly last night for a hard-working Brooklyn couple, who were gunned down in the entryway of their Sunset Park apartment building, police said.
Angel Caraballo, 27, and Erica Martinez, 21, were found just after 7 p.m. when cops, responding to a 911 call, arrived at 4002 Third Ave.
The couple left behind three children – a 2-year-old son, and Martinez’s two children from a previous relationship, a boy and a girl.
Police sources said the reason for the fatal dispute was unclear.
But cops said Martinez had been arguing in the vestibule of the building when tempers flared – and her neighbor pulled a gun.
Martinez was shot at least three times, in the head, back, torso and arms.
Caraballo, who overheard the altercation, was slain as he headed to aid Martinez.
Police found Caraballo’s body at the bottom of the staircase leading to his second-floor apartment. Paramedics said he was shot once in the head.
The suspect ran off.
At first, police thought he was barricaded in his fourth-floor apartment – but when they broke down the door, he wasn’t there.
A bloodhound traced his scent – out the back door of the apartment building and onto Second Avenue, where his trail was lost.
But at 11 p.m., with help from witnesses they drove around the neighborhood, police picked up a man for questioning near a gas station at the corner of Fourth Avenue and 40th Street, a few blocks from the murder scene.
Police sources identified him as Manuel Miranda, 59. He was not officially named a suspect.
Caraballo and Martinez had an “ongoing” dispute with the shooter, police said. But even neighbors didn’t know the root of the argument.
The couple was “happy together,” said one.
“He was a good guy, a hard worker who took care of his family. She worked hard, too,” said longtime friend Timothy Greene.
He said Caraballo was a construction worker, and Martinez an office cleaner.
“There are people out there who deserve this [kind of death], but these were two young people who worked hard,” he said.
Greene said he felt especially badly for the couple’s children.
“Three kids now have to grow up without parents because some lowlife decided to do this,” he said.