A Queens Village man was criminally charged with murder in the second degree for stabbing a Springfield Gardens man to death in a Jamaica bodega on Saturday night.
Homicide detectives arrested Jahshua Kelley, 24, at his home on 107th Avenue on Monday night. He was arraigned the following day in Queens Criminal Court, where he faced additional charges of assault after fighting with a police officer during booking at the 103rd Precinct in Jamaica.
Kelley is accused of fatally stabbing 40-year-old Nurul Bhuiyan during a brawl inside Sammy’s Gourmet Deli at 169-03 Jamaica Ave. on the night of June 22. The two men got into a verbal dispute in front of the Planet Fitness gym across Jamaica Avenue, and the argument escalated into violence when Kelley threw a punch at Bhuiyan that missed the mark, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny, who added that Bhuiyan responded by pulling out a knife.
Kelley pulled off his shirt and used it to deflect some jabs before Bhuiyan ran into the bodega across the street with Kelley in pursuit. The two wound up brawling behind the counter, where Kelley grabbed a knife and stabbed Bhuiyan multiple times in his neck and shoulder. Police from the 103rd Precinct responded to a 911 call of a man stabbed inside the deli, where they found Bhuiyan unconscious and unresponsive. EMS pronounced him dead at the scene.
After Kelley was arrested, he was subjected to a strip search at the 103rd Precinct at around 1:15 a.m. on Tuesday, June 25. While an officer was conducting the strip search, he saw two plastic bags come out of Kelley’s rectum, according to the criminal complaint.
An NYPD sergeant revealed that the bags contained multiple Alprazolam pills, which are a controlled substance usually prescribed for anxiety and panic disorder. Kelley was placed in a cell, at which point he spat in the face of one officer and the body of another officer. Kelley resisted as the cops tried to put him in the cell, punching one of them in the face and head-butting a second officer multiple times, according to the criminal complaint. Both cops were hurt during the melee.
Kelley was arraigned later on Tuesday in Queens Criminal Court. In addition to murder in the second degree, he was also charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, assault, harassment and criminal possession of a weapon. Kelley was remanded into custody without bail.
