The Murder Book 2008

July 11th -- 4 dead...arrest made in Patrick Hernandez murder case...

Patrick Hernandez, an 18-year-old black youth, was shot and killed early Thursday in the crime-ridden Far Rockaway section of Queens, according to the Daily News.

On Friday afternoon, police arrested Karon Lenihan, 17, and charged him with Hernandez' murder.

Hernandez, an honor roll student who was to go to college at SUNY Cortland this fall, was shot to death by a thug who jumped out of a passing car, shouted "What now?" and pumped a shotgun blast into Hernandez' chest as his stunned 16-year-old brother looked on, the News story reported. The shooting took place in front of 249 Beach 15th Street at 10:30 a.m. after the brothers had just finished cleaning a neighborhood beach.

Ralphael Jones, Hernandez' brother, told the News: "He stumbled, ran a little bit and then fell down. I said, 'Pat, hold on, hold on.' I held his hand and said, 'Pat, I love you,' but he couldn't say anything. He was trying hard to breathe, and then he just passed."

Hernandez became at least the third teenager killed in Far Rockaway since May. Reportedly, the shooter was an area thug who'd been feuding with Hernandez.

Hernandez played on his high school football team and made a strong impression on coach Walter Wilkerson who told the News: "He was a good leader on the team and a good role model on the field. The other kids looked up to him. I thought he'd be someone who I'd see three or four years from now and say, 'Hey, this kid made it.'"

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Carlos Rios, a 17-year-old Latino youth, was stabbed to death Thursday evening after arguing with Jose Fuentes, 22, at 89th Street and Northern Blvd. in the Jackson Heights section of Queens, according to a brief in the Daily News.

Police say Fuentes stabbed Rios several times in the chest; the teen was taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center but died a short time later. Fuentes was arrested and charged with his murder.

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An unidentified female in her 50s was found bludgeoned to death Thursday in a building on Boynton and Watson Avenues in the West Farms neighborhood of the Bronx, according to a brief in the NY Post. Police arrested the woman who lived in the apartment, 49-year-old Ana Jurado. Reportedly, Jurado hit the unidentified woman several times in the head with a blunt object, and left her on the living room floor. She was discovered after neighbors complained of a foul odor.

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An unidentified 20-year-old Latino male was stabbed to death early Friday morning in front of 2301 Jerome Avenue in the Bronx, according to a police report. He was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. No arrests.

 

July 10th -- 1 dead and wife of cop charged with murder....

Alex McFarlane, a 19-year-old black youth, died Monday from injuries he suffered after being thrown from a speeding car on the streets of St. Albans, Queens on July 3rd, allegedly by Javier Morales, according to a report in the Daily News. McFarlane lapsed into a coma after the incident and was declared brain dead but his family kept him on life support long enough for his organs to be donated.

Morales, 22, was arrested and charged with McFarlane's murder after initially being charged with four counts of assault, according to the News report.

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Veronica Nickey, the wife of an NYPD officer, was arrested Wednesday and charged with murder for shooting Ellison Butler, a 22 year old male, because she felt Butler allegedly had groped her 13-year-old daughter, according to an exclusive report in the NY Post.

Nickey, 40, allegedly walked up to Butller as he watched a basketball game on June 27 in Lincoln Terrace Park in Crown Heights and pulled a .380-caliber handgun, according to the Post report.

The Post reported that she said: "That's what you get for messing with my children! That's what you get for messing with my daughter!"

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July 6th -- 6 dead over holiday weekend....

Zeanie White, a 21-year-old black woman, was shot to death and four others were injured early Sunday after someone opened fire at a backyard grill-out to celebrate the 4th of July weekend, according to police reports and a story in the Daily News.

The shooting broke out around 1 a.m. Sunday outside 969 Gates Ave. in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. White's brother collapsed at the scene after he heard his sister had been hit. "I want to see my sister!" he said. "That's my only sister!"

There was no indication of why someon began shooting. No arrests.

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Kidson George, a 26-year-old black Army Reservist who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, was shot to death on July 4th at a party in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, according to stories in the Daily News and NY Post.

George, who traveled to his hometown of Brooklyn from Fort Dix in New Jersey for the holiday weekend, was standing on the porch of a house on East New York Avenue with his new girlfriend when the woman's ex came by the house. According to witnesses interviewed by The News, the ex-boyfriend fired a couple of rounds, killing George, and wounding another partygoer before jumping into a waiting car and driving off.

The witness told The News: "He saw them together, grabbed his gun and shot him. He said nothing at all; no warning, no anything."

The girlfriend was not hurt. No arrests.

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Charles Pena, a 29-year-old Latino male, was stabbed to death and two of his teenage friends were in critical condition last night after they were attacked early Saturday by a mob at Ashford and Liberty Streets in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, according to a story in the Daily News.

No arrests, no motive. The father of one of the wounded teens told The News: "I know they have problems around here. These kids can't find jobs, so when they're hanging out, things like this are going to happen."

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Kenneth Powers, a 27-year-old black male, was shot outside the Sheepshead Bay Houses in Brooklyn early Saturday morning after a fight broke out at a party, according to the same News story. Powers was taken to Lutheran Medical Center where he later died.

Powers' relatives told The News that he was having an ongoing fight with another man about the paternity of Powers' girlfriend's baby. Powers' mother Evelyn told a reporter: "Wow, how could you have somebody killed over a baby? It's unreal."

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Garfield Nelson, 33, and Wayne Burnetter, 29, were killed early Saturday morning when a car they were riding in smashed into a carpet store on Rocakaway Blvd., Queens, according to a story in the Daily News.

Stephen Bush, 28, of Far Rockaway, lost control of his 2005 gray Cadillac sedan near Brookville Blvd. in the Rosedale section, and was later arrested and charged with first-degree vehicular manslaughter, driving while intoxicated and driving while impaired.

Nelson's mother told The News that he was a devoted father to his two young children. "He was just a very nice boy. Very helpful. A great son," she said. "He loved his family. We're all very close."

June 27th -- 1 dead, a 15-year-old girl....

Keyanna Jones, a 15-year-old black female, was stabbed to death in Queens Wednesday evening after she reportedly tried to play the peacekeeper with a group of teenagers who were throwing bricks and shouting insults at another man, according to stories in the Daily News and NY Post. The man who was being chased by the mob, Winston Alladin, 39, a security guard in Manhattan at a high end Japanese store, allegedly wound up stabbing Jones twice in the chest, according to witnesses.

There is an element of Rashomon to the story: Was Alladin an angry aggressor, or did he only defend himself when confronted by a mob? And was Jones trying to calm the mob, or was she in the middle of it? The police are still sorting it out and looking for more witnesses.

The bizarre incident began when Alladin, a Trinidadian immigrant, reportedly hurled racial epithets at a black woman and her child who had cut into a bus line in downtown Jamaica. Some teens from the bus reportedly were offended by Alladin's curses and followed him when he disembarked. Eventually a mob formed and they began throwing bricks and bottles at Alladin, according to the stories.

Jones came upon the scene and urged the men to let Alladin go but he was still fighting and pulled a knife and allegedly stabbed Jones who was at the scene because she'd walked a friend to the bus stop. Alladin later reportedly told police he had acted in self-defense, according to the stories. A story in the NY Times cast doubt on Jones' peacekeeping role and described Jones as one of Alladin's "tormentors."

Meanwhile, Jones, nicknamed "Smiley" because of her cheerful disposition, is dead, and her 30-year-old mother Shaqwana Jackson told The News: "I just can't get over seeing her in the morgue at 15. That was my first born, my daughter, [and] I had her young, so we grew together. Not only did I lose a part of me, I lost a friend."

Alladin was charged with manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon. Assistant Queens District Attorney Mario Karonis said that Alladin's claims of self-defense were taken into account when he was charged. An employee at Takashimaya, the store where Alladin worked as a guard, told The Times of Alladin: “I’ve known him for the last eight years and this person is not a violent person. He’s a good person. He’s not a person who looks for trouble.”

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June 25th -- 5 dead in shootings and stabbings...

Five people were murdered in a 12-hour period in NYC Monday night into Tuesday morning, and it merited a story on page 28 of The News, a few briefs in the NY Post, and nothing in the NY Times. The bloody roll call includes:

Vincent Cruz, a 17-year-old Latino youth, was found shot to death early Tuesday in front of 205 Eldridge Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, according to a police report and a story in the Daily News. He had been shot one time in the head, and was pronounced dead on arrival at Bellevue Hospital. Sources told The News that the shooting may have been in retalliation for a remark Cruz made against someone's girlfriend earlier in the day.

Jonathan Diaz, a friend of Cruz, told The News: "He's too young. He didn't deserve that."

No arrests.

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Tynel Van-Kallen, a 22-year-old black male from South Carolina, was found stabbed several times in the neck and chest Monday night near Hughes Avenue and E. 181st Street in the Bronx, according to a police report. Van-Kallen, who was in the city visiting a cousin, was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital where he later died. Police arrested Jermaine Elston, 29, of the Bronx and charged him with murder and criminal possession of a weapon.

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Guillermo Rojas, a 24-year-old Latino male, was found stabbed once in the chest late Monday night in front of 87-33 112th Street in Queens, according to a police report. He was taken to Jamaica Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. No arrests.

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Christopher Cruz, a 19-year-old Latino youth, was found stabbed in the chest Monday night in front of 2190 Second Avenue in Manhattan, according to police report. He was taken to Metropolitan Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. No arrests.

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An unidentified black male was found shot to death early Tuesday morning inside 466 W. 150th Street in Harlem, according to a police report. He was pronounced dead on arrival at Harlem Hospital. No arrests.

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June 23rd -- 5 dead in separate arguments....

Larry Talley, a 23-year-old Latino male and father of a baby girl, was stabbed in the head and chest early Sunday morning after Talley came to the aid of a friend who was being beaten by a group of young men, according to a story in the Daily News.

Talley was trying to protect friend Carlos Garcia who was set upon by a group of men who had just left a club at 538 Claremont Parkway in the Bronx. The men turned on Talley and one or more stabbed Talley. He was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital where he later died from his injuries.

Talley had only become a father two months ago, according to the News article, and prided himself on being a doting father. He was working at the Hunts Point Fish Market, and saving money to get married.

His girlfriend Francis Hernandez was with Talley at the hospital when he died. She told The News: "His eyes were open. I gave him a kiss. I told him to come back - that his daughter and me needed him. But he didn't come back."

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Robert Leandry, a 28-year-old male, was shot to death early Sunday morning after getting into an argument with another man in a courtyard of the Jacob Riis Houses near E. 10th St. in the East Village, according to police and briefs in the NY Post and Daily News. No arrests.

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Kevin Macklin, a 41-year-old male, was shot to death early Sunday morning utside his home, at 112-02 148th St., in the Jamaica section of Queens, according to a brief in the Daily News. Macklin's foe left the sidewalk, but returned 15 minutes later with a gun, shot Macklin once in the face, then fled, said cops.

He was taken to Jamaica Hospital but died hours later. No arrests.

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An unidentified 20-year-old black male was found shot to death Saturday evening in front of 502 Cleveland Street in the East New York section of Brooklyn, according to a police report and a brief in the NY Post.The police said that the man was in an argument with another male when he was shot in torso. He was taken to Brookdale Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. No arrests.

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An unidentified 63-year-old white male died yesterday from a head wound he received on Friday in front of 415 51st Street in Manhattan, according to a police report. The man was taken to Roosevelt Hospital where he remained in critical condition until Sunday when he died from his injuries. An investigation revealed he'd been beaten, allegedly by Theodore Bonnemere, 50, of the Bronx, who was arrested and charged with manslaughter, police said.

June 21st -- 3 dead, including child starved to death....

Matthew Mason, a 7-week-old white baby boy, died last March from complications brought on by starvation, and his parents were charged Friday with manslaughter, according to stories in the Daily News and Staten Island Advance.

Matthew's parents, Joanne Fezza, 42, and Peter Mason, 46, (S.I. Advance photo) yesterday were arraigned on manslaughter, and held on $500,000 bail each after an autopsy revealed that they'd allegedly starved their baby son to death. Matthew weighed less than two pounds when he was taken from his family's home on March 23rd.

The couple also faces charges of child endangerment for allegedly failing to provide for their 5-year-old son who was taken away by the Administration for Children's Services on Friday.

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Olga Rodriguez, a 49-year-old Latina female, was found stabbed to death Friday in her apartment at 715 Eagle Avenue in the Bronx, according to a police report and media reports. The building superintendent, who went to her apartment to pick up the rent, apparently found her and called police. She had multiple stab wounds to her body, and was pronounced dead on arrival by responding EMS workers. No arrests.

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Dorrian Sweeney, a 20-year-old black male, died early last week from a stab wound he received back on June 11th in front of 88-40 173rd Street, according to a police report. Sweeney survived for a couple of days at Mary Immaculate Hospital but died on June 13th. Police arrested Aerris Grant, 28, of Queens, and charged him with Sweeney's murder.

 

June 19th -- 4 dead in Queens fire intentionally set....

William Salazar, a 32-year-old Latino male, yesterday became the 4th victim of the Queens Father's Day fire that now seems intentionally set, according to an article in theDaily News.

Salazar was the boyfriend of Agnes Bermudez -- described by The News as a "stunning brunette" -- apparently was so angry at Salazar that she doused him with carpet cleaner and lit a flame, according to what sources told The News. Bermudez herself was severely burned in the fire and remains in critical condition fighting for her life.

Investigators are unsure whether she was trying to kill herself. What is sure is that three family members who lived in the same building also lost their lives -- Heriberto Garcia-Vera, 68, his wife Flor Sandoval, 48, and their son Felipe Garcia-Vera, 20.

Friends and relatives who knew Salazar and Bermudez describe them as a happy couple.

June 15th -- 2 dead, former Doe Fund supervisor...

Richard Street, a 58-year-old black male, was stabbed to death Friday afternoon inside his apartment in the Morrisania section of the Bronx, according to a story in the Daily News.

Street was a former supervisor for The Doe Fund which teaches job skills to the homeless, and was a kindly neighborhood fixture, according to his neighbors. Police sources told The News that Street may have been stabbed while he was negotiating a marijuana deal inside his apartment. He staggered out of his apartment begging for help after he'd been stabbed several times in the chest.

He was taken to Bronx Lebanon Hospital where he later died from his injuries. No arrests.

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Ravinbranauth Dandhu, a 35-year-old Asian male, was found shot in the head Sunday morning in front of 112-33 Dillon Street, in Queens. He was taken to Mary Immaculate Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. No arrests.

 

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The News also has an interesting story about nine cities with populations over 100,000 that had not a single murder last year. You can see the whole list by clicking on this link but two of the cities are Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Cambridge, Massachusetts. New York was ranked the 129th safeest out of the nation's 251 cities with populations of more than 100,000.

May 29th -- 2 dead, including shootout in Chinatown luxury condo...

An unidentified male was shot to death by an off-duty NYPD police officer Wednesday night as he and an accomplice allegedly tried to rob a female receptionist working the front the desk of a luxury condominium building in Chinatown, according to reports in the Daily News and NY Times.

Reportedly, the two robbers walked into the building, and announced a stickup unaware that the man talking to receptionist Artenida Gjeli was off-duty NYPD Detective Martin Carrano. Gjeli and Carrano resisted, and one of the men slashed Gjeli in the face. Carrano reportedly pulled out his badge and gun, announced he was a police officer, and when the men continued the attack, Carrano fired his service weapon, according to the stories. One of the attackers died and the other was wounded.

It was somewhat unclear what Carrano was doing in the lobby. There was one report that the detective was moonlighting as a security guard there, while another claimed he was talking to Gjeli about a recent complaint she'd allegedly filed against a former boyfriend.

One thing is for sure. Residents of the building got what they bargained for. As the Times story notes, the condo building, which is in Chinatown at 123 Baxter Street, advertises on its website that "the very essense of city living is just outside your door."

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The body of an unidentified 35-year-old male with a head wound was found wrapped in a blanket inside a white pickup truck near North Conduit Avenue in Queens shortly before noon on Wednesday, according to a report in the NY Times. 

The Times reported that the man may have been shot but the cause of death is undetermined, pending an autopsy by the city’s medical examiner’s. A friend of the dead man reportedly had been looking for him, when he found his car, and spotted blood inside. Eventually police were called.

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Police yesterday made an arrest in last week's murder of Maurice McIver, a 15-year-old Latino youth, shot to death in upper Manhattan, according to a story in the Daily News. Arrested was Jamal Armstead, 16, who had pled guilty to weapons possession last November. Armstead was still on the streets because he'd been given a second chance by a judge who placed the youth in a program for teens with no prior records. He was allowed to remain free as long as he attended school, was home by 8 p.m., and passed periodic drug tests. The shooting death of McIver happened much later than 8 p.m.; he did not get a second chance

Armstead reportedly told police that he and a friend rushed over to the Wise Houses, where McIver was shot, after a female friend complained she had been "dissed" by someone. Armstead, according to the News story, fired at a male who reportedly had words with the female but the gun jammed. Armstead then handed the gun to a friend who pointed and pulled the trigger a second time. This time, the gun did fire and hit McIver instead of the intended target, according to the News story.

Today, police announced they had made a second arrest in the case. Reginald Wiggins, also 16, was charged with second-degree murder in McIver's death.

. Columnist Mike Daly has a good column about teens and guns as a sidebar to the main story.