February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Patrick Markey
McKenna’s bar on a gritty commercial strip in Manhattan’s Chelsea district looks like many other Irish taverns in New York. Green shamrocks decorate the front facade, and oil paintings of Ireland add the familiar touch of nostalgia to the walls.
But Saturday night was anything but familiar for the cozy neighborhood hangout.
Police were called to St. Vincent’s Hospital in the early hours of Sunday morning after an ambulance arrived carrying a victim with a fatal bullet wound. The victim, Matthew Torruella, had been shot inside the bathroom of McKenna’s after a brawl with another customer, police said.
Less than 48 hours later, 30-year-old John Mannix, an Irish American from Jersey City walked into Manhattan’s 10th Precinct with an attorney and surrendered to detectives investigating the murder, officials said.
Mannix was scheduled to be arraigned on second-degree murder charges in Manhattan Criminal Court late Tuesday. He was being held without bail at the holding cells at the courthouse.
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Law enforcement officials said Mannix and Torruella had been involved in a fracas just before the shooting inside the bar. Other clients separated the two and Torruella entered the bathroom with a female witness, according to a criminal complaint filed against Mannix.
Prosecutors charge that Mannix then banged on the bathroom entrance and allegedly fired one shot through the wooden door. The bullet passed through the victim’s heart and lung, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.
"This all has to do with a barroom, a dispute and alcohol," a police spokeswoman said.
The bar’s owner, Brian McKenna, was vacationing with his family in Mexico when he heard about the shooting a day before he was set to return.
"I called up my manager and he wasn’t there. I thought, What’s going on? His brother told me there had been a shooting," he said.
McKenna said Mannix had been a regular at the West Side bar.
"He’s just a local kid. It’s very uncharacteristic of him. It’s a shame," he said.
"It’s a tragedy for the parents of two families whose lives are changed forever."