WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — A man who shot and killed his girlfriend in an Audubon Avenue building opened fire on cops before fatally turning the gun on himself, police said.
Sergio Azcona, 29, shot his girlfriend, Michelle DeLacruz, 26, in the head in his fourth-floor apartment at 189 Audubon Avenue early Wednesday.
Sources said DeLacruz had an order of protection against Azcona for allegedly raping her in December.
A 911 caller reported hearing shots inside the apartment at 1:18 a.m., prompting cops to swarm the apartment building, police said. Officers arrived to see Azcona through the building's locked front door, grasping a handgun in the lobby.
"All of a sudden, I heard cops saying, 'Get down!'" said a 34-year-old witness, who was outside smoking when the shots rang out. "I heard cars coming down the street, sirens blaring.
"Cops said, 'Shots fired!'" he added.
After shooting at cops, Azcona ran inside the building, police said.
Minutes later, after the NYPD's Emergency Service Unit gained entry to the building, police found him lying unconscious and unresponsive on the first floor with an "apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound" in the head, a police source said.
No police officers were hurt.
DeLacruz was found in a fourth-floor bedroom with a gunshot wound to her head, police sources said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Azcona was rushed to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in critical condition. He died a short time later, police said.
Charlie, a longtime resident in the area, said Azcona was married to another woman and had two sets of young twins.
"I guess the problems got to him in life," Charlie, who declined to give his last name, added.
Azcona was a technician for Brooklyn-based Visionpro Communications, a supervisor said. He had missed work all week, citing car problems, the supervisor added.
A police source said Azcona had nine prior arrests, including the alleged rape.
