A Manhattan man was arrested on Saturday and charged in the fatal stabbing of an East Elmhurst man during the early morning hours of New Year’s Day in what notably became the city’s first homicide of 2024.
Torrence Holmes, 35, of St. Nicholas Place in Hamilton Heights, was taken into custody at his home and transported back to Queens, where he was booked at the 110th Precinct in Elmhurst on manslaughter and other charges on Saturday afternoon.
Police responded to a 911 call of two people stabbed in the vicinity of 76th Street and Roosevelt Avenue just before 4 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 1, where they discovered 29-year-old Tsering Wangdu of 81st Street with a stab wound to his leg along with his roommate, a 29-year-old man who was also stabbed. EMS responded to the crime scene and rushed the victims to Elmhurst Hospital where Wangdu was pronounced dead a short while later.
Investigators determined that Wangdu and his roommate were ringing in the New Year at KTM Bar and Lounge, a karaoke bar on the second floor of a commercial building located at 75-32 Broadway when they began to argue with Holmes who worked as a bouncer at the nightclub. The dispute escalated into violence and spilled out of the club onto the street where Holmes allegedly stabbed the two roommates, police said.
Holmes was charged with manslaughter, criminal possession of a weapon, and tampering with physical evidence, according to the NYPD, and his arraignment is pending.
