Gang member charged in teen attack

A 17 year-old member of the “Latin Kings” street gang has been arrested and charged with the attempted murder of a fellow student on the doorstep of the High School for Arts and Business in Corona.
On May 18, just over a week after Assemblymember Jose Peralta teamed up with the Guardian Angels to circulate photos of the suspect, Geovanny Fernandez, of 35-17 101st Street in Corona, was arraigned on charges of attempted murder and assault in Queens Criminal Court.
Fernandez, who also goes by the names “King Fame” and “King Terra (Terror),” will be tried as an adult, according to District Attorney Richard A. Brown. Sources close to the investigation told The Queens Courier that the suspect has an extensive juvenile criminal record.
According to court documents, Fernandez and two others repeatedly attacked Juan Jos/ Carasquillo, 16, in front of the school, located at 105-25 Horace Harding Boulevard in Corona, on March 23.
Carasquillo’s liver was lacerated and his gall bladder had to be removed following the knife attack. He also suffered permanent nerve damage to an arm, according to doctors at Elmhurst General Hospital, where he was treated
Beatriz Vargas, the grandmother of the stabbing victim, told The Queens Courier through an interpreter, “Juan lost a lot of blood. He is really traumatized,” adding, “We are all scared. Juan Jos/ is basically hiding in the apartment, afraid to go out.”
Vargas lives in Florida, but flew to New York after the attack to take care of the boy. “I raised him like a son, he is my son,” she said, fighting back tears.
After calling for a special gang task force and gang-free school zones at a Tuesday, May 10 press conference, Peralta presented photographs of Carasquillo’s surgical scar, which ran the length of the boy’s chest.
“The time has come to take a strong stand against these gangs,” Peralta said, citing the Friday, March 23, assault by a reputed gangmember on Guarionex Montas, 13, in the schoolyard of P.S. 127 in East Elmhurst. Montas suffered a head injury and died at Elmhurst Hospital the next morning.
James Velasquez, a high school specialist for the United Federation of Teachers added his voice to calls for more resources to be directed to after-school and other programs that would offer an alternative to gang activity. “There have been enormous cuts to programs which offer students an alternative” Velasquez said, adding “our children are scared, nervous and fighting for their lives.”
High School for Arts and Business Principal Vivian Selenikas has headed the school for four years and agrees that the gang problem is widespread and a community issue. She says that school administrators would need to have “their head in the sand” not to take notice of gang activity. “We take an active role in raising awareness” she said.