A Brooklyn man is facing life in prison without parole for allegedly stabbing three of his relatives to death in their Springfield Gardens home last month, according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.
Jabari K. Burrell, 22, of East 193rd Street in Canarsie was arraigned Dec. 12 before Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder on an eight-count indictment charging him with three counts of murder, grand larceny and criminal possession of a weapon.
According to the indictment, on Thursday, Nov. 17, Burrell visited the residence of his grandmother, 65-year-old Hyacinth Brown-Johnson, and his two aunts, 47-year-old Latoya Gordon and 26-year-old Patrice Johnson, who reportedly suffered from cerebral palsy and spent most of her time in a wheelchair, at their home near the intersection of 182nd Street and 146th Drive.
The following morning, around 9 a.m. on Nov. 18, a relative and a home health aide entered the home and discovered Gordon lying dead on the floor of a bedroom with multiple stab wounds to her body, according to the indictment. In another bedroom, they found Johnson lying dead in her medical bed, and Johnson lying dead nearby on the floor, both of whom were also stabbed multiple times. Following the fatal attacks on his grandmother and aunts, Burrell allegedly fled the scene in his grandmother’s minivan.
Police from the 105th Precinct responded to the home and investigators recovered blood-stained knives from the bathroom, the kitchen sink and from a kitchen drawer. Knives were additionally discovered in the grandmother’s bedroom and the living room.
Burell fled the state at approximately 2 p.m. on Nov. 19, Virginia State Police arrested Burrell in his grandmother’s minivan which had run out of gas on the side of Interstate 95 in Prince County, Virginia. He was extradited back to Queens on Friday where he was booked at the 105th Precinct in Queens Village.
“This is a heartbreaking tragedy,” Katz said. “The defendant is alleged to have turned in three family members who had opened their home to him, his grandmother and two aunts, one of whom was disabled by cerebral palsy. They were defenseless against his brutal rage. He fled but was extradited and will now face justice.”
Justice Holder ordered Burrell to return to court on Jan. 18. He faces up to life in prison without parole if convicted.
