New Jersey shooter had ties to the desert

Police in New Jersey say a supermarket employee that killed two coworkers once lived in the high desert.

ABC News identified the alleged shooter Friday as Terrance Tyler, 23, a former Marine who lived in Twentynine Palms in 2009.

Tyler shot himself Friday morning after opening fire in the Pathmark store just outside Manhattan around 4 am, before the business opened.

The store’s windows were shattered, and officials say police never used their weapons.

Three people died, all store employees.

A Middlesex County prosecutor, Bruce Kaplan said, “I can confirm for you that two of those individuals were innocent victims and the third deceased is the shooter who we believe killed himself following his opening fire in that store.

Police said 16 shots were fired, and an AK 47, extra ammunition and a handgun were found at the scene. No motive is yet known for the crime.

A spokesperson for the Marine Corps confirmed Tyler served at the 29 Palms Marine Base for his entire enlistment period from March 2008 until February 2010. His military specialty was a rifleman says the corp.

A cousin of the gunman said he had not been the same since his mother died about five years ago.

Shanteya Dyson in New York City tells The Associated Press that 23-year-old Terence Tyler didn’t speak much after his mother died. She says “he was just blank.”

Dyson says Tyler was discharged from the Marines in 2010 after he became ill and was hospitalized. She said she did not know what his illness was.