A former IHOP employee was arrested Sunday and charged with murder after police say he stabbed a one-time co-worker to death in the bathroom of a Brooklyn restaurant late Friday.
Authorities identified the suspect as Wilber Salazar Rios, 44, of Hempstead in Nassau County, and the victim as Hector Reinoso-Perez, 67, a Brooklyn resident who worked at the East New York IHOP on Flatlands Avenue near Louisiana Avenue. Salazar Rios faces charges of murder, assault and criminal possession of a weapon, prosecutors said.
Police and law enforcement sources said the confrontation began inside the restaurant when the two men were chatting with another worker and a former manager. The encounter briefly dispersed, and Reinoso-Perez returned to cleaning a bathroom where, according to sources, Salazar Rios confronted him again. The two men argued and the suspect stabbed Reinoso-Perez in the stomach, the sources said.
Reinoso-Perez was taken to Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead. A 41-year-old employee who reportedly tried to intervene and remove the weapon received cuts to his hands but was not hospitalized, officials said.
After his arrest Sunday, Salazar Rios told police the victim had pushed him when he entered the bathroom and said he did not know where the knife came from, according to law enforcement sources. On Monday afternoon, a judge ordered Salazar Rios held without bail at his arraignment, prosecutors said.
The New York Police Department and prosecutors provided the names of those involved and the location of the incident. Reinoso-Perez lived about a half-mile from the restaurant where he worked, according to the account provided by law enforcement sources.
The killing adds to concerns about violence in and around workplaces that have figured into municipal debates over public safety. Officials have increasingly cited incidents at small businesses and restaurants in discussions of local crime trends and enforcement priorities, though no public statements from city officials about this specific case were included in the materials released by police.
The investigation remains active. Prosecutors will pursue the murder, assault and weapon-possession charges while the case proceeds through the criminal justice system, and further court dates are expected as authorities develop the evidence and interview witnesses.
