Last year on this day there was a murder and suicide in the Delores Beauty Shop on 11th Street in Park Slope. Here’s my story from a year ago:

Another crime of passion in Brooklyn.

In a tiny beauty shop on 11th Street between Fifth and Fourth
Avenue, a man killed his ex-wife (or girlfriend) and then killed
himself.

It was a crime of jealousy and revenge: he was angry because she was dating another man.

The woman, one of the owners of Delores’ Beauty Shop, was rushed to
Methodist Hospital. But she died enroute. The man died immediately.

The shootings occurred at 11 a.m. Soon after, the street was closed
off as a crime scene. Police and news helicpopters were seen flying
over Park Slope.

The beauty shop is right next door to the tiny Cafe Regular, a favorite local spot.  `

At 4:30 when I came by on my way to see my therapist, the block was
closed to traffic. A big crowd of onlookers stood in the rain. But I
wasn’t sure what was going on. A commercial, maybe a movie. Then I
realized that there was a crime scene  on my therapist’s block.

I was determined to get to my appointment so I walked under the
police line and walked toward Fourth Avenue. Then I was stopped by a
group of four policemen with the words "Crime Scene" monogrammed on
their blue uniforms.

I told them that I had an appointment on the block. They looked at
me like I was crazy.

"This is a crime scene. Get off the block. Didn’t
you notice the police tape?" One of the cops rolled her eyes.

They advised me to walk down 10th Street to Fourth Avenue and come
around the other way. I arrived a little late for my appointment. My
therapist had heard about the shooting from an earlier client. He
hadn’t had a chance to go outside.

When the session was over, I was able to walk up to Fifth Avenue
from his building. Locals standing under umbrellas crowded across the
street from the beauty salon were waiting for the body to come out.
There were news cameras and a sprinkling of reporters with notepads and
press passes. A man asked me if the woman killed was named Delores.
"She used to cut my hair." A reporter asked if she was from the
Dominican Republic and he nodded yes, looking sad. 

There were rumors that the woman’s boyfriend had been murdered, as well. "That depends what side of the block you’re on."

Another woman heard that the woman’s boyfriend had also been sent to
Methodist. "My friend works there and that’s what she told me."

One of the reporters had the police report. He held it in his hand and said there was just one man killed, a suicide.

Crime scene policemen worked for hours marking up the small beauty
shop with chalk and police tape and taking photographs. I saw a
policeman wearing blue rubber gloves. I left before the body was
removed from the beauty shop.

Later my daughter said that she and her classmates had noticed the news and police helicopters flying above them in the school playground. They stared up
at the sky, she said. "It hurt my eyes."

-posted September 26, 2005