A jilted lover yesterday shot and killed his ex-girlfriend, then turned the gun on himself in the Queens bar where she worked, police said.
Louis Vallejo, 38, carried out the grisly murder-suicide yesterday in front of shocked patrons at the El Paisa Café on Northern Boulevard in Jackson Heights, where the victim, Carolina Perez, 26, was a bartender.
Cops said Vallejo ordered a beer at about 3 a.m. from a different bartender before confronting Perez, whom he had been dating on and off for about five years.
The confrontation quickly escalated in to a shouting match, which Vallejo abruptly ended by pulling out a .25-caliber handgun and shooting her in the head, police said.
Moments later, he shot himself in the neck, according to investigators.
They were both pronounced dead at the scene.
“He was very jealous,” said Carlos Nañez, a customer who was not there at the time of the shooting.
“I asked her to go out a few times, but she never came. People said she’s already in love with this guy, so don’t go near her. He’ll mess with you.
“She was a beautiful girl. She was always alone or with family. She never hung out with people from the bar. Only with family.”
Pals said the couple carried on a romance in New York and Colombia, where they both were from.
Sources said Perez might have started seeing someone new, sending Vallejo in to a jealous rage.
“I don’t want to accept this,” said a friend who knew them both.
“They were a beautiful couple. Everybody loved them. This was something nobody expected.”
Police said Perez did not have an order of protection against Vallejo, and the manager of the bar said Vallejo had been there before.
“The man came in to kill her,” said the manager, Alex. “He came in with the intent to kill her and he didn’t care about anything else.”
A mile away, at the home that Perez shared with her mother and sister, grieving relatives declined to comment.
“They’re very nice people,” said Steve Kappes, the building superintendent. “I’m really shocked to hear about what happened.”
He said Perez’s mother was inconsolable.
“She was a very beautiful girl,” Kappes said. “I’m sure she had a lot of admirers. It’s a damn shame.”