BRIDGEPORT — The three suspects in the shooting death of a store clerk in July were in court today.
Luis Torres, 25, Vanessa “Cutie” Ortiz, 21, and Marisol Malave, 31, all waived hearings on probable cause and pleaded not guilty to felony murder, first-degree robbery and conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery. They elected jury trials.
If convicted of the charges, each could face life in prison.
According to police, Narote Arun Kamur, a college student from India, had been manning the cash register at Norman’s Grocery and Deli on Maplewood Avenue when Ortiz and Torres, wearing masks and hooded sweat shirts, entered the store on the evening of July 12.
Malave waited outside for them in her Hyundai sedan. Police said she had already switched the license plates on the car in anticipation of what was to come.
Police said Ortiz, who goes by the nickname “Cutie,” pointed a loaded shotgun at Kamur, who stood behind a plexiglass enclosure, as Torres squeezed through a slot to stand beside the cash register.
As Kamur “fumbled with the drawer” and Ortiz apparently had enough. Police said she then blasted Kamur in the head with the shotgun.
They said Torres then grabbed the cash register and the two of them ran from the store to Malave’s waiting car.
When police arrived at the store a short time later they found Kamur lying face down on the floor behind the counter in a pool of blood. A wire hung from where the cash register had been.
Meanwhile, Ortiz, Torres and Malave were out bragging about what they had done, police said.
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All three can rot in jail for 20-30 years.