By Joe Anuta
A Whitestone man fatally shot in the face and torso was cremated Tuesday as police hunted for his killer, his grieving mother said.
“We are working with the police,” Rose Marie Balogh said at their 166th Street home. “I would like to see whoever did this punished.”
Her 46-year-old son, Leslie Balogh, was shot about 1:45 a.m. last Friday on 137th Street near 31st Avenue in Flushing, according to the NYPD. Balogh was taken to Flushing Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
Balogh has about 10 prior arrests on file, but the most egregious was for driving while intoxicated, according to a police source.
The shooting is not believed to be drug-related, nor a random act of violence. A video shows the victim talking to someone in a vehicle, a police source said.
On Tuesday, blood stains and discarded emergency medical equipment still covered the asphalt street where he was shot.
Angel Mejia, who has lived in a nearby house for four years, said he heard two gunshots ring out the night Balogh was killed.
He looked out his window and saw Balogh lying on the sidewalk and immediately called 911, he said.
“This is a really nice neighborhood, but now I’m so scared,” he said.
The homicide is the 109th Precinct’s first in 2013, according to NYPD crime statistics.
In 2012, there were four murders total in the precinct, down from eight murders in 2011, according to the NYPD.
Reach reporter Joe Anuta by e-mail at januta@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
