Woodhaven terror spree suspect indicted for murder

Matthew Colletta, the 34-year-old Woodhaven man charged in the overnight shooting spree that left one man dead and six others injured on August 25, has been indicted on murder, attempted murder and other charges.
According to Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown, more than a month after Colletta's reign of terror, a grand jury returned a 57-count indictment against Colletta who targeted red cars and people at random.
Among the charges brought against him were two counts of murder in the second degree, 14 counts of attempted murder in the second degree, 17 counts of assault, six counts of criminal possession of a weapon, one count of criminal possession of a controlled substance, and nine counts of criminal mischief.
&#8220The defendant is accused of carving a bloody swath across Queens County during a violent seven-hour shooting rampage in which he drove around randomly firing at individuals standing on the sidewalk or traveling in vehicles,” said Brown.
Colletta, an unemployed bricklayer and diagnosed manic depressive/bipolar, was allegedly high on cocaine and angel dust when he shot his first victim, Andrew Leonik, 46, outside his home on 56th Drive in Maspeth.
The sole fatality in the seven-hour rampage was Todd Upton, 51, who was riding in the front passenger seat of a red Toyota minivan on the Cross Island Parkway near Bell Boulevard. Upton and his wife Mary 49, who was driving the minivan, and their daughter, Erin, 19, had just come from dropping off another daughter, 21-year-old Angela, at Marist College. Colletta, who had been held without bail since his arrest on August 26, was arraigned on the indictment on Thursday, October 5. He is scheduled to return to court on December 18.