A Maspeth man who was caught by transit cops vaping inside a Brooklyn subway station in January is facing as much as 75 years to life in prison for stabbing a Dutch Kills man to death four years ago.
Luis Hernandez, 36, of 56th Street, was arraigned Tuesday in Queens Supreme Court on a seven-count indictment charging him with murder, gang assault and other crimes in the fatal stabbing of a 21-year-old man and the attempted murder of two others in Astoria in 2020.
According to the charges, on the night of Feb. 9, 2020, between 8:20 and 8:50 p.m., Hernandez and at least two other men, who remain at large, punched and stabbed Richard Hernandez, 21, of Dutch Kills during an attack in front of 36-30 31st St. The victim, who was not related to the defendant, was rushed by EMS to Mont Sinai Queens Hospital in Astoria, where he was pronounced dead from his injuries.
Two other individuals were also assaulted by Hernandez and his accomplices. One victim was stabbed in the lower back and the other was slashed across his jacket and punched about his body. Both were treated for their injuries and survived.
Investigators from the 114th Precinct in Astoria recovered two switchblade-style knives and a machete from the crime scene.
“A young man’s life was cut short in a brutal act of violence four years ago,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. “His killers may think they got away with murder, but we will use every tool at our disposal to bring them to justice, no matter how much time has passed.”
Nearly four years after the fatal attack, Hernandez was spotted by NYPD transit officers vaping inside the 59th Street subway station in Sunset Park, Brooklyn on Jan. 12. A records search indicated that Hernandez was a suspect in the 2020 fatal stabbing in Queens.
At the time of his arrest, the case was being actively investigated by prosecutors in the Queens County District Attorney’s Cold Case Unit. Hernandez was arraigned before Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder who ordered him to return to court on Mar. 26. He faces up to 75 years to life in prison if convicted.
