The man behind a shooting at a early Friday (Aug.31) has been identified as a former member of the Marine Corps. Terence Tyler, 23, killed two of his co-workers before taking his own life, all while wearing military clothing.
He was discharged from the U.S. Marine Corps. in 2010.
Tyler finished his shift at the Pathmark store located in Old Bridge Township at approximately 3:30 a.m. He returned 30 minutes later with an AK-47 assault rifle and a handgun. He fired roughly 16 rounds killing an 18-year-old woman, and a 24-year-old man, as others in the store ran for cover. “I don’t believe that they were specifically targeted,” Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan, said of the victims. “I believe everybody in the store was a target.”
His cousin, Shanteya Dyson, told the Associated Press that Tyler was never happy in the Marines, and was discharged after being hospitalized for an unspecified illness. Dyson said that Tyler’s father died when he was young, and he hadn’t been the same since his mother died of cancer, five years ago. “That was his best friend,” she said. “He was always a quiet guy, but he got more quiet. He really didn’t speak at all. He was just blank. I wish it didn’t turn out this way.
Although he was from Brooklyn, Tyler moved into an apartment near the store, earlier in the summer. He had only been working in the store for a few weeks. One of his co-workers said that she stayed away from him because he gave her an “uneasy vibe.” It is unclear whether or not he suffered from mental illness but his Facebook page held the slogan: “Be optimistic. All the people you hate are going to eventually die.”
This latest shooting comes just one week after a gunman killed his former boss, outside the Empire State Building in New York City. Police officers shot nine bystanders before shooting and killing the suspect
