By Madina Toure
A 52-year-old man arrested in Connecticut in connection with the fatal 2011 shooting of a Kew Gardens man that also seriously injured the victim’s brother has been extradited to the borough, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.
George Cupi, 52 of Westside Lane in Shelton, was arrested at about 5 a.m. Dec. 21 by Shelton Police Department detectives, the U.S. Marshals Service, detectives from the 102nd Precinct and Queens Homicide South, according to Shelton Detective Richard Bango. He was charged with being a fugitive from justice and was asked to post a $100,000 bond, Bango said.
He returned to Queens Dec. 29 and arraigned on murder, attempted murder, assault and criminal possession of a weapon charges, Brown said.
Cupi was remanded and his next court date is Jan. 12, the DA said. If convicted, Cupi faces a maximum of 50 years to life in prison, Brown added.
At about 8:10 p.m. on July 14, 2011, police officers responded to a call of two males shot in Queens, the NYPD said.
When they arrived, officers discovered two victims, Kew Gardens residents Roberto Adanes, 25, and his 30-year-old brother, Jovanny, on the corner of 84th Drive and 125th Street, police said.
Roberto Adanes was shot in the torso and taken to Jamaica Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, officials said. His brother was shot in the torso, taken to Jamaica Hospital and listed in stable condition.
At the time, eyewitnesses said the gunman, who appeared to be in his 40s or 50s, waved his weapon in the air and smiled after the shooting. He was accompanied by a younger, chubby man.
A neighbor who had been walking her dog at the time said an argument began when the suspects could not get their vehicle past the car belonging to one of the brothers.
The brothers approached the suspect’s car, described as both a white pickup truck and a white van full of plumbing supplies bearing Connecticut license plates, and confronted the two men inside the pickup, she said.
After a short, intense argument, the brothers pulled their car around to the other side of the small, triangular park, she added.
Witnesses told the TimesLedger Newspapers that the the two suspects followed the victims, but continued past them, and walked out of sight, But then, the witness said, one of the suspects walked back down the street and pulled a handgun out of his waist.
Although Roberto Adanes asked the suspect not to shoot his brother, according to witnesses at the time, the suspect allegedly shot his brother in the head and ended up shooting Roberto in the torso and chest after a struggle, witnesses said at the time.
Reach reporter Madina Toure by e-mail at mtour
