By Connor Adams Sheets
A Kew Gardens teenager has been arrested and charged with murder in connection with the stabbing death of a Flushing man on the streets of College Point last week, police said.
Christian Caballero, 17, allegedly stabbed Javaun Hooper, 25, near the corner of 124th Street and 22nd Avenue late at night June 15 following a verbal dispute over “girlfriends,” police said.
Police responded to a 911 call and arrived on the scene at about 11:34 p.m., when they found Hooper, who lived on 45th Ave near 137th Street, lying in the street suffering from at least one stab wound, police said.
Emergency medical service personnel took Hooper to New York Hospital Queens, at 56-45 Main St. in Flushing, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Caballero, of 84-15 127th St., was arrested June 17 and is being charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon in connection with the slaying, according to court records.
A pre-arraignment deposition was given in Queens Criminal Court on Caballero’s behalf June 18, according to court records, and he is being held without bail until his next court date, which is scheduled for July 5.
The murder was the fifth so far this year in the 109th Precinct, which includes downtown Flushing, East Flushing, Queensboro Hill, College Point, Malba, Whitestone, Beechhurst and Bay Terrace, according to precinct crime statistics.
As of June 12 last year, the precinct had only recorded four murders. As of June 12, rapes in the 109th Precinct so far this year remained even with last year’s number at seven, robberies had fallen 2.1 percent from 94 to 92 and burglaries had dropped 22.9 percent from 201 to 155, according to the crime data.
The number of overall crime complaints fell 2.41 percent over that same period from 790 to 771.
Reach reporter Connor Adams Sheets by e-mail at csheets@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4538.
