By Nathan Duke
The precinct, which covers Astoria and Long Island City, reported drops in four of the seven major crime categories, including robbery and grand larceny auto, police said. In three of the categories, dips were significantly large, police said. The number of felony assaults, burglaries and grand larceny incidents rose, but the precinct saw an overall 6.4 drop in crime, police said.There were five murders in the precinct in 2007 as opposed to seven homicides during the previous year, police said. The year's first murder took place on Jan. 26 when police found Warren Johnson, 36, a homeless man, cradling Consuelo Bellamy, his girlfriend, in his arms as she lay dying on 36th Avenue in Astoria from a stab wound to the neck he allegedly inflicted on her, police said.Johnson was charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon in connection to the fatal beating and stabbing of Bellamy, who was also homeless, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said. The incident occurred following an argument the couple had after they left a party at Ravenswood Houses, the DA said. Johnson is due back in court on Jan. 10, a DA spokeswoman said.The second murder of the year occurred May 16 when Astoria teen Emran Hossain, 19, was fatally stabbed on Hoyt Avenue near 28th Street in Astoria, police said. Hossain, who had worked as a busboy at Manhattan restaurant 5 Ninth, left his home around midnight May 15 after receiving a call from a friend, was stabbed around 2 a.m. and died at Elmhurst Hospital several hours later, police said. No arrests have been made in the incident, police said.The year's third murder took place on June 20 near 34-50 Steinway St. in Astoria when 24-year-old Bay Shore resident Jason Brown was stabbed to death during a dispute with an unidentified person around 3 a.m., police said. The stabber fled the scene and the victim was taken to Elmhurst Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said. No arrests have been made in the incident, police said.In the fourth murder Jose Sierra, a Bronx resident who worked at an Astoria restaurant, was shot and stabbed to death Sept. 3 on the southbound platform of the N train station at 31st Street and Broadway in Astoria, the DA said. Jose Alvarez, 20, and Nicholas Reyes, 20, both of whom are from the Bronx, and Emanuel Ramirez-Hernandez, 23, who is homeless, were arraigned on second-degree murder, gang assault and criminal weapon possession charges, Brown said. All three men are due back in court on Jan. 30, a DA spokeswoman said. A source told the DA's office that the shooting had been gang-related, she said.Details on the fifth murder were unavailable, but police said it could have been reclassified from a lesser crime to a homicide. The number of rapes in the precinct dropped from 39 incidents in 2006 to 17 in 2007, while robberies fell from 438 incidents in 2006 to 299 in 2007, police said. Grand larceny auto incidents dropped from 395 incidents in 2006 to 332 in 2007, police said.But felony assaults rose from 252 incidents in 2006 to 277 in 2007, burglaries jumped from 412 incidents in 2006 to 434 in 2007 and grand larceny incidents rose from 851 in 2006 to 876 in 2007, police said.Reach reporter Nathan Duke by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.
