MANHATTAN — Police found the murder weapon used in an Upper West Side shooting rampage hidden inside a trash can outside the building where the killings took place.
Detectives are now investigating whether a bystander or someone else with access to the backyard bins at 492 Amsterdam Ave. hid the .380 Beretta semi-automatic pistol between two bags of garbage.
Police said a substance that looked like blood was found on the gun, but more testing was needed to confirm that.
The killer, Hector Quinones, 44, of the Bronx, fell to his death following the Thursday bloodbath. Police believe his baggy pants falling down my have caused him to fall three stories from a fire escape.
A shell casing that matched five others recovered at the murder scene was found in the gun, police said. Ballistics tests confirmed it was the gun used in the slayings.
Authorities also revealed more details about the homicides, where three generations of a family were killed in an apparent drug-related shooting rampage.
Carlos Rodriguez Sr., 52, was shot in the head. His son, also named Carlos, 24, was hit in the arm before he was also shot in the head. His father, Fernando Gonzalez, 87, had been stabbed in his heart, liver, neck, arms and hands.
Police on the scene Thursday recovered a bloody knife and a .380 firearm not used in the murders.
