By Peter Sorkin
Ioannis Giannikos, 40, called his wife, Konstantina Giannikos, 36, outside her building at 10-10 44th Ave. last Thursday at 1:30 p.m. and accosted her outside, said witnesses who worked in the building. Detective Walter Burns, a police spokesman. said the dispute continued into the fourth-floor stairwell.
Officer Chris Cottingham, another Police Department spokesman said, Ioannis Giannikos then took out a 32-caliber gun and shot his estranged wife once in the back of the head before turning it on himself and shooting himself in the head. The gun was recovered at the scene, Burns said.
Both victims were declared dead at the scene, Cottingham said.
Giannikos had a history of domestic violence against his wife, and had been arrested twice before for assaulting her, Cottingham said. Cottingham said the couple had two daughters, 11 and 14.
One worker who said she was saddened to hear about the couple's two children and was shocked by the violence and was in disbelief after leaving her second-floor office in the same building Thursday evening.
“It's really sad to hear that,” said the women who did not want to give her name. “I mean to hear about something like that here, it's strange. I don't think I've heard of any incidents like this happening since I worked here.”
She also said she was most troubled that the children would now be without a mother as well as a father.
“What did they do to deserve this?” she asked. “They really are innocent.”
Clayton King, who owns and operates Ebony Office Products across the street at 10-17 44th Ave., said he thinks the case was an isolated incident, but was surprised nonetheless by the shooting.
“Life goes on,” King said. “I think it's really tragic, but this kind of stuff happens all the time. It's sad, but I don't think this would happen again.”
