Suspects arrested in NYC Wendy's shootings

NEW YORK - Two suspects were arrested Friday in the methodical killings of five employees in the basement of a Wendy's restaurant.

Police lifted the palm print of John Taylor, who briefly worked at the restaurant last year, from a recently delivered box found in the restaurant's basement.

Taylor, 36, was later arrested 30 miles away in Long Island at his mother's house, according to a high-ranking police source who spoke on condition of anonymity.

A man police believed to be an accomplice was arrested in Queens, the source said. His name was not released.

In Wednesday night's massacre on bustling Main Street, in the Flushing section of Queens, two gunmen entered the Wendy's around closing time, bound and gagged the seven employees and shot them, killing five and wounding two. The gunmen made off with about $2,000 in cash and a videotape from the restaurant's security equipment.

Taylor worked at the Wendy's briefly in 1999, leaving in October. At the time, Wendy's suspected him ''in a case of missing money,'' First Deputy Police Commissioner Patrick Kelleher said, but no charges were ever filed.

Taylor was arrested in June for allegedly robbing a McDonald's in Queens at which he had worked. A warrant was later issued for Taylor after he missed a court appearance. At the time of the McDonald's robbery, he was on probation for a 1996 robbery of a McDonald's in Manhattan.

Wendy's officials and Mayor Rudolph Giuliani announced the creation of a fund to help the families of the seven victims. Wendy's offered a $50,000 reward and the city $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the gunmen.

One of the two survivors, JaQuione Johnson, 18, underwent surgery Friday and remained in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the head.

The other, Patrick Castro, 23, was released from the hospital Thursday and is under police protection. He was shot through both cheeks and is credited with saving Johnson's life.