By Dustin Brown
A Glendale teenager was released from the hospital Tuesday a week after he was repeatedly stabbed in front of a Myrtle Avenue Chinese food restaurant shortly after sundown on Halloween, police and hospital officials said.
The 15-year-old victim, whose name was not released by police, was stabbed several times in front of Emperor’s Garden Chinese Food at 69-10 Myrtle Ave. in Glendale following a dispute with two unidentified men, police said.
He was rushed to Jamaica Hospital in critical condition following the 5:30 p.m. assault, where his status was upgraded to serious but stable after he underwent surgery to repair his injuries, said Ole Pedersen, a hospital spokesman. He was released from the hospital Tuesday.
Detective Carolyn Chew, a police spokeswoman, said no arrests had been made as of Tuesday.
Neighbors said the teen was allegedly stabbed by an employee of the Chinese restaurant whom he had been taunting with eggs and other Halloween pranks earlier in the afternoon.
“He couldn’t take it no more, so he said, ‘I’m gonna get you,’” said an employee at a deli across the street who saw part of the altercation.
After being stabbed, the teenager was brought by a female friend to Myrtle Discount Auto Parts on the end of the block, where he leaned on the counter and eventually collapsed in the moments before the ambulance arrived.
“I thought maybe it was a joke,” said store owner Barry Azizian. “I saw real blood coming out and immediately we called 911.”
Azizian said the teen had been stabbed in the back, the lower abdomen and the back of his neck.
“I thought the kid was going to die,” Azizian said.
The street was cordoned off by police for much of the night following the assault as helicopters and dogs were deployed in search of the attacker, who immediately fled.
Neighbors in the close-knit neighborhood were stunned to hear of the assault. Many said they were familiar with the restaurant employee allegedly responsible for the stabbing, and others were friendly with the teenage victim, who apparently lives around the corner from where he was attacked.
“I’m in shock,” said one woman who lives directly above the Chinese restaurant. “I would never have expected this.”
Dena Sarett, a bartender at the Shannon Tavern next door to the Chinese restaurant, said neighbors were anxious to learn the identity of the victim, whom many of them probably knew.
“We knew it was a neighborhood kid, and it’s an everybody knows everybody else kind of neighborhood,” she said.
Neighbors also expressed disbelief that the attacker would respond to Halloween pranks with violence.
“If the man felt that threatened, why didn’t he pick up the phone and call 911 instead of acting like a crazy man?” said Lori Phelan, who lives a block away from the restaurant on Myrtle Avenue. “Why ruin your whole life over some kid annoying you”
Reach reporter Dustin Brown by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 154.
