By Madina Toure
A Glendale man allegedly threatened to kill cops at a TD Bank in Middle Village on Christmas Eve and was arrested the same day, the NYPD said.
Elvin Payamps, 38, of 72-34 Edsall Ave. in Glendale, allegedly told someone on his cell phone that he wanted to kill cops and that he had firearms at his home outside of the TD Bank on 79-55 Metropolitan Ave. in Middle Village, police said.
Payamps was arrested and charged with criminal possession of a weapon, aggravated harassment, unlawful use of police uniform and emblem and other charges, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said last Friday.
Bail was set at $500,000, according to Brown. Payamp’s next court date is Jan. 7. If convicted, Payamps faces 15 years in prison.
“We take these charges very seriously—particularly in light of the fact that illegal weapons, ammunition and bulletproof vests were found in the defendant’s home,” Brown said in a statement.
The NYPD has conducted about 66 threat investigations after evaluating hundreds of online postings and calls to 911 and 311, the NYPD said in a statement. Roughly half of those investigations have been closed or referred to other agencies and the NYPD has made 10 arrests. Payamps was not charged with threatening police, a department spokeswoman said.
At approximately 1:39 p.m., a 54-year-old man inside the TD Bank allegedly heard Payamps having a conversation about killing cops and having firearms in his house, according to police.
Payamps allegedly admitted to his threats and said they were brought on by the shooting deaths of Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu in Brooklyn, the New York Post reported.
“I’m going to kill another cop,” Payamps said, according to the Post story. “We should do it before Christmas. The cop should have been white that was killed. I always have a gun on me.”
He was taken into custody two days before Ramos’ wake at Christ Tabernacle Church in Glendale, followed by his funeral Saturday, which drew more than 20,000 police officers from around the nation. Vice President Joe Biden and his wife also attended.
Payamps left the bank before the police arrived, according to the NYPD. Cops eventually found him getting into a car in the rear of 6626 Metropolitan Ave. After the police conducted a car stop at the intersection of Metropolitan Avenue and Rentar Plaza,
Police spoke to Payamps about the dark tint of his car’s windows and he admitted to having marijuana in his possession, Brown said. Police allegedly recovered a zip lock bag with marijuana and a metal pipe in the car, he added.
The witness was able to identify Payamps when he was placed under arrest and sent to the 104th Precinct, police said.
Police allegedly recovered metal knuckles, a loaded black Jimenez Arms JA 9mmm pistol, a black Mossberg Maverick Model 88 12-gauge shotgun with a defaced serial number, ammunition and two bulletproof vests, the DA said. One of the vests had a Brooklyn Detention Complex label. Payamps’ wife consented to the search both in writing and verbally, the NYPD said.
The NYPD said it plans to explore additional security measures and deploy police resources if necessary.
Reach reporter Madina Toure by e-mail at mtoure@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4566.
