Murder Shortly After Mayor’s Event
Hours after a visit by the mayor, the Al Oerter Recreation Center in Flushing became a crime scene after a Parks Department employee from Ozone Park allegedly stabbed and killed a co-worker during a dispute on Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 4, police reported.
Law enforcement sources said 51- year-old Robert Swann of 103rd Avenue allegedly knifed 21-year-old Ezra Black of East 38th Street in Brooklyn outside the center inside the athletic facility located at 131-40 Fowler Ave.
Earlier Tuesday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a host of other city officials appeared at the location for announcement regarding the city’s ongoing efforts to combat obesity. Police said the murder took place about five hours after the press conference.
Authorities said the incident took place at around 3:20 p.m. Tuesday afternoon, when Swann and Black got into an argument near a shed at the center.
Published reports indicated that the dispute quickly turned physical, and Black ran inside the center. Swann reportedly chased him into the kitchen, where he allegedly grabbed a knife and stabbed Black in the front torso.
Following the attack, the suspect fled from the scene, police said.
Officers from the 109th Precinct and EMS units responded to the scene. Black was transported to New York Hospital Queens, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Shortly after the incident, Swann was reportedly tracked down by police near the Unisphere inside Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.
In statements made to police, according to information provided by the Queens District Attorney’s office, Swann allegedly admitted to the crime and dumping his clothing and the murder weapon in a field located near the park.
Swann was charged by the 109th Precinct Detective Squad with second degree murder, tampering with physical evidence and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court yesterday, Wednesday, Sept. 5, before Judge Gia Morris, who ordered him held without bail.
The suspect is scheduled to return to court on Sept. 18. If convicted, he faces 25 years to life behind bars, according to Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Carla L. Cheung of the D.A.’s Homicide Investigations Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Peter T. Reese, bureau chief, and Peter J. McCormack III and Richard B. Schaeffer, deputy bureau chiefs.
