Updated 5:23 p.m.
With the help of a tipster, police brought a Connecticut man back to Queens on Tuesday to face charges in connection with a Kew Gardens road rage killing that occurred more than four years ago.
Detectives picked up Gjergj (George) Logu-Cupi, 52, at his Shelton, Connecticut, home earlier this month after the NYPD Queens Homicide Squad received information from an anonymous whistleblower regarding his whereabouts. Logu-Cupi was the suspect behind the fatal shooting of Roberto Adanes, 25, at 8:10 p.m. on July 14, 2011, a few steps from the victim’s Austin Street residence.
According to authorities, Adanes and his 30-year-old brother became involved in a verbal dispute with the suspect over a double-parked car in the vicinity of Austin and 125th streets.
Prosecutors said Logu-Cupi left the scene, then returned moments later and opened fire on both men; Adanes was struck in the torso, while his brother took a bullet to his head. Reportedly, the suspect was observed fleeing the scene inside a white van with Connecticut license plates.
Officers from the 102nd Precinct and EMS units responded to the incident. Adanes died at Jamaica Hospital; the 30-year-old shooting victim was treated for his injuries, but still has the bullet lodged in his skull, according to Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown.
Soon after being extradited to Queens, sources familiar with the investigation said, Logu-Cupi was identified through a photo lineup as the suspect in the deadly shooting. He was subsequently charged with second-degree murder and was ordered held without bail. Logu-Cupi is scheduled to return to court on Jan. 12, 2016, and faces a maximum of 50 years to life behind bars if convicted.
“This was a senseless shooting following a traffic dispute,” Brown said in a statement issued Wednesday afternoon. “A young man was killed and his older brother seriously wounded. Gun violence has no place in a civilized society and must end now.”
