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Business Owner Recovering After Surgery For Gun Wound

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Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: December 7, 2007

HOLMES BEACH - Sue Normand had reason to celebrate this week.

Her business, Island Mail & More, reached its five-year anniversary, and she told a friend Tuesday night that the holiday season was bringing in fantastic sales at the mailing and packaging shop.

Her milestone was marked by a photo of Normand with a wide grin that ran in the Anna Maria Islander newspaper.

But her celebration came to sudden halt Wednesday when a gunman entered her store, pulled a gun out of a box and shot her in the stomach.

The gunman, who police say is Mark Koenigs, 54, of Bradenton, fled and led police on a manhunt along the beach. Koenigs was eventually shot and wounded by police, who took him into custody.

No motive for the shooting has been determined. Both Normand and her attacker survived and were taken to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg.
Koenigs remained hospitalized Thursday at Bayfront; upon discharge, he will be arrested on an attempted murder charge, police say. Manatee County Judge Robert Farrance on Thursday ordered Koenigs held without bail on charges of aggravated assault for pointing a gun at two sheriff's deputies. Farrance said he denied bail because of the seriousness of the allegations and because Koenigs missed a court hearing in September in a criminal mischief case.

A day after the violent assault, the small, tight-knit island community banded together to show its support for the popular businesswoman, who lives on the island and chairs the local planning commission.

Normand, 63, had surgery midday Thursday at Bayfront. Officials and family members would not say what type of surgery she had. Relatives were at the hospital throughout the day to support Normand.

Her son, Stephen Normand, said his mother was doing well in her recovery.

At Normand's shop, in a plaza in the 3200 block of East Bay Drive, a handwritten sign of support was posted on the door: "We love you Sue. Get well soon. Love, the Islanders."

Jackie Estes, owner of Paradise Cafe a few doors down from Normand's shop, left a bouquet of flowers and a get-well card taped to the door.
Normand creates the menu for the cafe. Estes had just picked up a stack of freshly printed menus the night before the shooting.

"We had a chat, and she was in a very good mood," Estes said. "She said, 'Thank God, Jackie, that my business is picking up.'"
Koenigs had been in Normand's shop several times, and Normand greeted him by name before he shot her, Holmes Beach Police Chief Jay Romine said.
Koenigs has been uncooperative so far with investigators, refusing to talk about the shooting, Romine said Thursday.

In recent months, Koenigs told acquaintances he inherited a fortune from his deceased parents, and bought property on the beach and in the River Pointe neighborhood in Bradenton about two years ago.

He moved into the four-bedroom house in the 300 block of 39th Street Northeast, and neighbors said he sometimes stood in his driveway and sang in such a loud voice that others told him to pipe down.
Koenigs quit cutting the grass, let dozens of newspapers pile up in the driveway and parked a silver travel trailer in the driveway.

He told people that he heard voices in his home and hooked up the trailer as a safe place, said Ramona Brunner, who feuded with Koenigs last year.

Once, police say, he walked over to Brunner's home in the early morning and poured detergent into a fountain. When police arrived, Koenigs reportedly stood in the driveway and laughed.

Authorities in August charged Koenigs with criminal mischief, a misdemeanor, for the damage the soap caused to the fountain's pump. A month later, after Koenigs missed a court date, a judge issued a warrant for his arrest.

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