HIALEAH, Fla. - A gunman shot and killed his wife outside a South Florida restaurant where she worked, then targeted women inside and killed three others before committing suicide, police said Monday.

Police said the shooter bypassed at least two men when he fired at the women inside. Three women were hospitalized in critical condition, Hialeah police Detective Eddie Rodriguez said.

"He went straight for the women," Rodriguez said.

The shooting Sunday night began in a parking lot outside the Yoyito Restaurant in Hialeah, where 38-year-old Gerardo Regalado of Coral Gables was seen arguing with Liazan Molina, Rodriguez said. According to Florida marriage records, the couple married in 2007.

According to police, Regalado shot and killed Molina, 24, then entered the restaurant and fired at six women inside.

One employee called her brother after the shooting, saying she had been shot and was bleeding.

Felix Fuentes said his sister, Ivette Coronado, told him to "please call 911." He said the 32-year-old woman was recovering Monday after undergoing surgery for gunshot wounds to her chest and one of her arms.

Regalado drove off after the shooting, police said. Officers found him dead of an apparent suicide a few blocks away, with the same weapon used in the restaurant shootings, Rodriguez said.

People inside the Coral Gables house where Regalado and Molina lived refused to answer a reporter's knocks at the door. A person who answered the phone identified himself only as a family friend and said the family didn't want to talk.

It was not immediately clear if the women shot were restaurant employees or customers. The shooting began at 10:15 p.m., shortly after the restaurant had closed.

A spokeswoman for Jackson Memorial Hospital declined to release any information about the three women being treated there because all had requested privacy.

Regular customers gathered in shock outside the restaurant Monday.

"They are good people," said Valentin Perez, 52, who visits the restaurant for his Cuban coffee every morning.

Octavio Guzman, another customer, said the restaurant workers are always generous with those who can't afford a meal.

"You tell anyone here, 'I'm hungry and I don't have money,' and they give it to you," Guzman said.