Chester man who shot 5 of his coworkers, killing 2, ‘intended to kill more people,’ DA says at hearing

A Chester man who opened fire on five of his coworkers at Delaware County Linen last month was methodical, Assistant District Attorney Sophia Polites said at a hearing Wednesday, going “room-to-room shooting innocent people who did nothing wrong.”

Polites said Wilbert Rosado-Ruiz went to work with the specific intent to kill on May 22, putting 48 workers at the industrial laundry company in his crosshairs. Rosado-Ruiz, 61, shot five people that day, and two of them died from their injuries, authorities have said.

“He walked into that business with a loaded gun and ammunition in his pocket,” Polites said. “He intended to kill more people, and he would’ve been successful had his gun not jammed.”

Rosado-Ruiz’s attorney, Luke Mercurio, declined to comment after Wednesday’s proceeding.

Rosado-Ruiz has been charged with first- and third-degree murder in the deaths of brothers Leovanny Peña Peña, 30, and Giguenson Peña Peña, 26, as well as attempted murder, aggravated assault, and reckless endangerment.

Magisterial District Judge Shepard Garner held over Rosado-Ruiz on all charges Wednesday after an hours-long preliminary hearing, during which some of the surviving victims detailed the violent outburst that still haunts them.

Nilamarie Valdivieso said she was working her morning shift at Delaware County Linen when Rosado-Ruiz arrived for work, appearing agitated. He “looked very mad,” she said, especially as he passed by the two Peña Peña brothers. When Valdivieso approached him to ask what was bothering him, she said he cursed her out.

Valdivieso then went to find a supervisor, and went with two supervisors, along with Leo Peña Peña and another victim, Yudeivi Peña, to confront Rosado-Ruiz.

During that conversation, Peña asked Rosado-Ruiz why he always threatened people with his gun, and accused him of not being a man who could solve problems without it, according to testimony Wednesday. Prosecutors have said other workers at Delaware County Linen had previously made complaints to the company management about Rosado-Ruiz’s aggressive behavior.

In response to being confronted, Valdivieso said, Rosado-Ruiz pulled out a 9mm Luger, asked the group “Oh, so this is about the gun?” and opened fire, striking her in her chest.

Panicking, she said, she fled the building and found a hiding spot nearby as Rosado-Ruiz walked after Peña Peña and Peña, firing his gun.

James Lavery said he was loading a truck nearby when those first shots rang out. He ran toward the sound of gunfire to find Rosado-Ruiz chasing another co-worker, “drawing down on him” and shooting the man in his back.

Lavery testified that he demanded to know what Rosado-Ruiz was doing. His co-worker turned the gun on Lavery, he said, pointing it at his head and saying he was “tired of people [expletive] with” him.

But Rosado-Ruiz did not fire, instead pulling on the gun’s slide. Prosecutors said they believed a malfunction with the gun saved Lavery from being shot.

Later, after Rosado-Ruiz fled the building, Lavery said he rendered aid to the coworker he had watched get shot in the back, applying a tourniquet to another gunshot wound on the man’s arm. Later, he helped responding police officers pull the man out of the building.

Along the way, Lavery said, he saw Peña, who had been shot multiple times, including in his head, as well as the two Peña Peña brothers. Both men appeared to be dead already, he said.

Valdivieso said she tried to run to a nearby home to escape the gunfire, not realizing that Rosado-Ruiz was standing near the business’ front entrance. As she ran, she watched as he pointed the gun at her and attempted to fire again, but was unable to, she said.

She was later hospitalized for two days for treatment of the gunshot wound. The two other surviving victims, including Peña, required more significant treatment. Peña was only released from Crozer-Chester Medical Center on Tuesday, prosecutors said.

After the shooting, Rosado-Ruiz was pulled over by an officer from nearby Trainer not far from his home in Chester. He tried to toss aside the gun used in the shooting, but investigators later recovered it and matched shell casings found at the crime scene to that weapon.

Rosado-Ruiz will remain in custody, denied bail. He is scheduled for an arraignment in Delaware County Court on Aug. 7.