By Joe Anuta
Road rage turned deadly in Kew Gardens Thursday evening when a shooting by an unidentified gunman left a man dead and his brother injured.
Shortly after 8 p.m., police responded to reports of shots fired at 125th Street and 84th Drive and found Roberto Adanes, 25, hit in the chest and torso, according to the NYPD. Adanes was rushed to Jamaica Hospital where he was later pronounced dead at the scene. His brother, 30, was listed in stable condition.
Eyewitnesses who gathered Friday at the small triangular park where the incident occurred said the middle-age gunman waved his weapon in the air and smiled after the shooting. He was accompanied by a younger, chubby man, witnesses.
Police said Friday afternoon the investigation was ongoing and no arrests had been made .
The confrontation began at the corner of Austin and 84th Drive, according to a neighbor, who was walking their dog at the time.
An argument broke out between the two men and the brothers when the suspects could not get their vehicle past the car belonging to one of the brothers, she said.
The Kew Gardens brothers approached the suspects’ car — which has been described as both a white pickup truck and a white van full of plumbing supplies bearing Connecticut plates — and confronted the two men inside the pickup, the neighbor said. After a short, intense argument the brothers pulled their car around to the other side of the small, triangular park.
The two men in the truck followed suit, but continued past the victims and out of sight, said several eyewitnesses, including Soukat Mian, the superintendent of the building where the two victims lived with their family.
A neighbor said they saw one of the suspects walk back down the street and then a flash of silver as the shooter pulled a handgun out of his waist.
A friend of the brothers who was sitting feet away when the shooting occurred but did not want to be named said Adanes said: “Don’t do it. Don’t do it,” before the suspect shot his brother in the head.
Adanes went for the gun and began to struggle with the gunman, the friend said, and was shot in the torso and chest at close range.
Several neighbors recalled hearing five shots.
The gunman then walked back along the street from where he came, passing a resident who asked to be identified only as Jose.
After hearing the shots and remembering his daughter was out walking the dog, Jose quickly walked down 125th Street toward the park and passed the suspect walking the opposite way.
“He was laughing like it was a joke,” Jose said. “with the gun in his hand.”
Jose said the suspect told him if he came any closer, he would be shot as well.
Eyewitnesses described the shooter as an older man between 40 and 50 years old. He was with a younger man witnesses described as chubby.
Neighbors said the two men had visited a nearby grocery store several times and might have been doing work in the neighborhood.
By Friday morning, the crime scene had not been cleaned up and pools of blood stained 125th Street, which was littered with broken glass, blue rubber gloves, gauze and other medical equipment.
“Look at the neighborhood. It’s quiet,” said a resident who only wanted to be identified as Benjamin. “I’m shocked. I knew those boys. It was a shame.”
Another resident who did not want to be identified said: “It’s frightening. Everybody is scared.”
Reach reporter Joe Anuta by e-mail at januta@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
Editor's note: Removed surviving brother's name.
