By Patrick Donachie
Nearly a year before a woman shot herself in front of the Beauty Forever Salon in Bayside Monday morning, she had sent a letter to the Bayside Times asking for a story to be done on her legal dispute with the spa.
A reporter attempted to follow up on her claims but was not able to corroborate her story.
At about 9 a.m. Monday, a 67-year-old woman got out of an older model Buick outside the salon at 36-36 Bell Blvd. and killed herself, according to an officer from the 111th Precinct who responded to the scene. She died instantly.
According to a receptionist at Beauty Forever, the woman made no attempt to enter the premises at any point before she committed suicide.
“She just did it,” the receptionist said. She also said the shooting was a tragedy and shocked the salon.
The manager of the spa declined to comment on the incident.
Several hours later, a seven-page letter arrived at the Bayside Times labeled “A Deathbed Statement.” Police confirmed that the letter was from the dead woman, who it turned out was the same person who had contacted the paper last spring.
The neatly typed letter was written last Friday, three days before the incident, and postmarked Saturday.
In the letter she expressed pronounced frustration at the state of a Small Claims Court case she had brought against the Beauty Forever Salon because the legal proceedings had stretched on for more than a year.
The woman, whose identity the paper has withheld, described the travails and personal struggles she confronted during her life.
The letter also recounted a trip she took to Virginia to purchase the gun that apparently was used in the incident. According to the letter, she originally planned to buy a gun in Pennsylvania but was not able to do so. She later traveled to Virginia with the intention of purchasing a firearm at a gun shop but instead bought a gun in a private sale from another individual.
Reach reporter Patrick Donachie by e-mail at pdona
