By Juan Soto
Isolated episodes of violence erupted in several Queens neighborhoods, which left at least four people dead and several people arrested, according to several police reports.
The latest incident took place Monday in Jamaica, where two police officers fired their weapons at an alleged burglar after confronting him as he was trying to steal property inside a house, according to authorities. .
The NYPD said they received a call of a burglary in progress at a home located at 142nd Street in Jamaica. When the officers arrived at the scene, they saw a woman screaming for help from a second floor window.
Authorities said when the cops entered the house, they discovered the suspect in the living room.
According to the police, the suspect, Leighton Friday, 19, allegedly hit one of the officers with a metal object in the head. The injured cop and his partner fired their weapons, striking Friday three times in the wrist and thigh.
The suspect was taken to Jamaica Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition. The officer was also listed in stable condition at Jamaica Hospital.
Friday was arrested and charged with burglary, assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest and criminal mischief, police said.
In another incident, police evacuated a Queens Village block last Friday after they found flamethrowers devices and several guns in an apartment. The NYPD charged Steven Gelish, 39, with criminal possession of a weapon. He was taken to an area hospital to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
On the same day, a 51-year-old Flushing man was arrested and charged with killing his girlfriend inside their Northern Boulevard apartment.
Naser Alzein allegedly stabbed Josefina Mendoza, 68, in the evening hours of Nov. 8, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.
Alzein faces 25 years to life in prison if found guilty of second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon. He was set to appear in court Nov. 26.
and criminal possession of a weapon.
Brown said Mendoza was stabbed several times about her body and neck.
Also, police were investigating the death of a 22-year-old man who was found Nov. 9 in the Bayswater section of the Rockaways.
A NYPD spokesman said the victim was found unconscious with a gunshot wound to the head at McBride Street.
And in Glenn Oaks, Edmund Chow, 79, was killed by a van as he was crossing Hillside Avenue near 257th Street, police said. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The driver, who was not charged remained at the scene of the accident, the NYPD said.
Police were also looking into the death of a man found inside a minivan parked in a parking lot for a Jamaica Avenue funeral home, the authorities said.
Reach reporter Juan Soto by e-mail at jsoto@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4564.
