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3 Shot in Racist Rampage
2 women overpower gunman
on suicide mission
By ALICE McQUILLAN, DEREK ROSE and BILL HUTCHINSON
Daily News Staff Writers
A heavily armed man screaming, "White people are going to burn tonight!" shot three people at a trendy East Village bar yesterday and doused patrons with kerosene before he was overpowered by two women, police said.
Steven Johnson, 34, of Brooklyn, was on a suicide mission when he burst into Bar Veloce on Second Ave. and 11th St. with guns blazing and hate spewing from his mouth, said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.
"I wanted to kill as many white people as I could," Johnson told detectives after the 40-minute siege, which left Johnson and three victims with bullet wounds.
Patrons said that after he poured kerosene on them, Johnson yelled, "Everyone's wearing gas shirts now!"
"Do you want it hot?" Johnson asked terrified hostages as he began flicking a barbecue lighter.
Police said Johnson's rampage may have been sparked by his battle with AIDS and the March 4 death of his wife, who also had the disease.
Bar patron hurt during gunman's rampage is taken to ambulance after incident yesterday.
Before leaving home, Johnson wrote a suicide note to his 10-year-old son and scrawled on the wall of his Williamsburg apartment: "Tell the boys in blue, I won't go easy," cops said.
"This individual is clearly deranged, possibly as a result of his wife dying," said Kelly, adding Johnson was carrying three guns, a 30-inch samurai sword, 153 rounds of ammunition, a box cutter, 100 plastic handcuffs, a kerosene-filled bottle and the lighter.
Weapons found at scene.
Johnson — whose rap sheet for weapon and drug arrests dates to 1985 — also was wearing knee and elbow pads and a catheter he apparently made himself, police said.
"He wasn't very eloquent, but he made it clear it was racially motivated," said Ann-Margaret Gidley, 23, one of two women police praised for tackling Johnson and ending the standoff. "We all knew he had a gun and a lighter and we didn't want to die."
The drama unfolded around 2 a.m. when Johnson accosted two men and two women at Second Ave. and 11th St., cops said.
Johnson ordered Jonah Brander, 28, of Fort Lee, N.J., to hand over his wallet. But as Brander reached into his pocket, Johnson said, "I have a problem with you" and shot him in the torso, police said.
As Brander staggered into Bar Veloce, Johnson grabbed one of the women, Elin Juselius, 20, and followed him, firing wildly into the air. Before reaching the front door of the popular wine bar, Juselius broke free and ran.
New York University student Melanie Kaye, 20, was seated near the front door when Brander stumbled in holding his stomach and pleading for help. "Everyone thought it was a joke," said Kaye. "Then the shooter came in."
Kaye said Johnson shot Brander again in the torso and began screaming, "Get back!"
Some customers ran into the basement, broke through window bars and escaped. Others ran into a back dishwashing area, but there was no way out.
Johnson grabbed Robin Arzon, 20, by the hair and ordered her to bind people's hands with plastic handcuffs, witnesses said. He began pouring kerosene on people and threatening to set them ablaze, witnesses said.
At one point, Johnson attacked a born-again Christian woman who cursed Satan, witnesses said. "Don't you mention Jesus again!" Johnson told the woman, knocking her down and kicking her in the head. "Where's God now?"
Iso Shoji, 54, owner of a restaurant next door, heard the commotion and went to investigate. Shoji said that when he poked his head in the rear door of Bar Veloce he was shot.
After Shoji was shot, Gidley sprang into action. The slender, 5-foot-4 blond jumped on Johnson's back and another hostage, Annie Hubbard, 34, of Manhattan helped tackle him.
During the scuffle one of Johnson's guns went off, wounding Hubbard in the right shin.
Cops then stormed the restaurant and one Emergency Service Unit officer fired a single shot that grazed Johnson in the head.
"It was do something or die," Gidley said yesterday. "I didn't think it was time to go yet."
"They were very brave," Kelly said of Gidley and Hubbard.
Brander was in critical condition at Bellevue Hospital. Johnson and the two other wounded victims were in stable condition there.
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