A Brooklyn man is facing two decades in prison after he admitted to killing an Asian grandmother during a 2021 Thanksgiving weekend rock attack in Corona, District Attorney Melinda Katz announced Thursday, Dec. 8.
Elisaul Perez, 33, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the first degree Tuesday before Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Yavinsky for striking 61-year-old Guiying Ma twice in the head with a large rock. The grandmother succumbed to her injuries at Elmhurst Hospital Center nearly three months later.
According to the charges, during the morning of Nov. 26, 2021, the victim was seen sweeping the sidewalk and street area in front of her friend’s home on 38th Avenue near 97th Street in Corona. At around 8 a.m., Perez was captured on video surveillance as he picked up a large rock and struck Ma in the head. After she fell to the ground, he bashed her in the head a second time.
EMS responded to the crime scene and rushed the victim to Elmhurst Hospital Center in critical condition, where she had stayed for 10 weeks following the brutal assault. She underwent emergency surgery and was treated for a right skull fracture, facial fractures, and internal bleeding from her brain, among other injuries. She never recovered, and after a three-month hospitalization, she died from complications from her injuries on Feb. 22.
“Her family, friends and neighbors still mourn the loss of Guiying Ma, whose life was senselessly taken last year in this brutal attack,” Katz said. “The defendant will now be held to account for an unprovoked attack that robbed a family of their loved one. The lengthy sentence to be imposed by the court is fully justified.”
Justice Yavinsky indicated that he would sentence Perez on Jan. 10 to a determinate term of 20 years in prison to be followed by five years’ post-release supervision.
