By Anthony Rifilato
Police arrested 44-year-old Vincent Deluca of Baldwin just after midnight on April 6, after he was subdued by the club's quick-thinking employees. Police said Deluca was a patron at the club, at 2151 Grand Ave., where he had been drinking earlier that night.
"The bartender thought he had too much to drink," said Detective Sgt. Roy Gorddard of the First Squad. When the bartenders refused to serve Deluca any more drinks, he became irate and began accosting other customers, according to Gorddard. "He grew belligerent, and [club management] asked him to leave," Gorddard said.
Deluca was thrown out, but the incident didn't end there. According to Gorddard, he returned to his home on Matheron Avenue, where he got his double-barreled shotgun and several rounds of ammunition, and also apparently told his mother what he intended to do when he demanded to use her car. She refused, Gorddard said, so Deluca took a cab back to the club instead.
Police said that when he returned a short time later, he was armed with the shotgun. Gorddard explained that a female employee recognized Deluca when he entered the club's vestibule and quickly alerted the bouncers, who rushed to the door to apprehend him. It was then that Deluca brandished the shotgun.
There was a struggle, Gorddard said, as the bouncers tried to wrestle the gun away from Deluca. A round was fired during the struggle, and the shot hit the club's interior glass door, shattering it and spraying glass shards everywhere. "A third employee was coming to assist and was struck by glass shards," said Gorddard.
Police said that the employee, a 39-year-old man, sustained numerous facial injuries. He was taken to Nassau University Medical Center, where he was treated and released.
After the shooting, the cab driver who dropped Deluca off called 911. Deluca was disarmed and subdued by club employees until police arrived and arrested him at 12:46 a.m.
Club management could not be reached for comment.
A woman who answered the phone at Deluca's home refused to talk to a reporter. But Deluca's mother told the Daily News that her son works in construction, and that she was trying to sort out the details of what happened. "What I understand is that they were trying to take the [gun] out of his hands, and it just went off," she said. "You get drunk and you don't act the same. I wish I knew more. I'm in the dark."
Gorddard said that Deluca had been arrested previously for driving under the influence and the illegal sale of a firearm.
Aside from last week's shooting, there have been no incidents at Gentleman's Quarters recently, Gorddard said. "It's not on a regular basis, and not something you'd expect," he said.
At a Baldwin Republican Club meeting last week, First Precinct Inspector Rick Capece spoke to residents about crime and other issues in the precinct (see story, page 3), and mentioned the incident in Gentleman's Quarters. Capece explained that the shooting was an isolated incident, and not indicative of a pattern of crime.
"It could have been a tragedy, but it wasn't," he said. Capece also explained that there have been no serious incidents at the club, and added that for the most part, it's a "pretty clean-run establishment."
Deluca was charged with second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault, first-degree criminal use of a firearm, first-degree reckless endangerment and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He was arraigned at First District Court in Hempstead on April 6.
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