By Christina Santucci
Two Hispanic men were stabbed – one fatally – in Woodside early Saturday morning, police said, and an outreach group is offering several thousands dollars as a reward for information about the killer.
At about 4:30 a.m. Saturday morning, officers were called to Roosevelt Avenue near the corner of 68th Street, where they found a 33-year-old man with a stab wound to the torso and a 26-year-old man with a stab wound to the chest, the NYPD said.
Both men were taken to Elmhurst Hospital, where the 26-year-old man, identified by NBC as Isaac Martinez, was pronounced dead, police said. According to Martinez’s Facebook page, he was a father and used the nickname DJ Cobra. Hours before he was killed, he wrote on the social media account that he had been at two clubs on Roosevelt Avenue.
An investigation into the stabbing was ongoing, the NYPD said.
Later in the day, Fernando Mateo, president and founder of Hispanics Across America, held a news conference announcing that the group was offering $5,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case, fellow member of HAA, Alfredo Sandoval said.
Mateo also said the stabbing suspect may be a cab driver or livery driver and that whoever committed the murder should be brought to justice, Sandoval said.
Carlos Suarez, who was manning the counter at Los Brothers Grocery and described himself as a close friend of the owners, said the deli and produce shop was open at 4:30 a.m. He said surveillance video of the two Hispanic men entering the store, buying beer and leaving the fruit and vegetable store was handed over to police, but the shop’s cameras were not trained on the sidewalk where the stabbing took place. Suarez said police had closed down parts of the block for hours until 2 p.m. Saturday as they performed their investigation.
He described the neighborhood as quiet.
“This is extremely unusual,” Suarez said.
Reach managing editor Christina Santucci by e-mail at timesledgerphotos@gmail.com or by phone at 718-260-4589.
