Credit : People, ABCNY, Nicole Acosta, and Christine Pelisek
Rex Heuermann, the suspect in the infamous Long Island Serial Killer case, was arrested Thursday on the sidewalk outside his Midtown, Manhattan office — and video footage first obtained by ABC 7 New York shows him being stopped by plainclothes officers in broad daylight as pedestrians walk by.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney tells PEOPLE why authorities decided to take him into custody in Manhattan as opposed to closer to his Massapequa Park home on Long Island.
“He has 92 gun permits,” Tierney says. “We thought it would be safer to get him out of the house.”
The prosecutor adds that Heuermann, 59, was arrested when he least expected it.
“I think he was pretty shocked,” Tierney tells PEOPLE. “He had no clue, which tells us that we did our job.”
Heuermann is accused of killing at least three sex workers more than a decade ago. The married father of two was charged Friday with three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, and Amber Costello, 27.
He is also considered a prime suspect in the death of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25.
