The big story in New Yrok today is the shooting deaths of two people in broad daylight in one of the ritziest parts of town - Madison and 57th street.

JEALOUS EX MURDERS WIFE

(You didn't think I'd link to the Times for a juicy story like this, did you?)

An obsessively jealous man shot and killed his ex-wife and critically wounded her fiancé-to-be on a crowded Madison Avenue street yesterday — then turned the gun on himself in a lovers triangle turned deadly.

Vadim Ivanov, 44, shot Inessa Ivanov and John Turco in front of 598 Madison Ave. near East 58th Street at 7:24 p.m. after spending the day stalking her.

The report reminded me of another broad daylight shooting in midtown last year, also involving Russian/ex-Soviet persons.

Iced - It was about a quarter after seven when Nektalov turned onto Sixth Avenue from 47th Street, and the block was crowded with the usual mix of early-evening strollers: diamond-district workers heading home; tourists; people on their way to dinner. Nektalov, who walked this block every day, didn’t really notice. He was talking on his cell phone.

As Nektalov neared 48th Street, a long-haired man in a baseball cap, a black shirt, and black jeans walked up behind him, pulled a .45 out of the waistband of his pants, and shot the jeweler once in the back of the head.

Just seems like an odd coincidence. There aren't many midtown, daytime shootings.