QNS is looking back at our top stories throughout 2024 as we look forward to 2025. In terms of crime, the borough was shaken by several high-profile murders, police shootings and drug gang takedowns, many of which shocked the entire city. Here are some of the top 2024 crime stories in Queens.
The city’s first homicide of the year went down in an Elmhurst karaoke bar
New York City’s first murder in 2024 occurred on New Year’s Day when a Manhattan bouncer stabbed two men outside an Elmhurst karaoke bar near 76th Street and Roosevelt Ave. just before 4 a.m. Torrance Holmes, 35, of Hamilton Heights, was arrested by detectives days later at his home and transported back to Queens to face justice.
Investigators determined that 29-year-old Tsering Wangdu of 81st Street was ringing in the New Year with his roommate at KTM Bar and Lounge when they began arguing with Holmes, a bouncer at the nightclub. The dispute escalated into violence that spilled onto the street, where Holmes allegedly stabbed them both. EMS responded to the crime scene and rushed the victims to nearby Elmhurst Hospital, where Wangdu was pronounced dead a short while later. Holmes was charged with manslaughter and other related crimes.
Flushing park rapist arrested after Corona mob recognizes him in a bodega and roughed him up before cops arrived on scene
The NYPD arrested a “monster” who raped a 13-year-old girl in Flushing. The man evaded a massive citywide manhunt that stretched into a fifth day. The police then had to rescue him from an angry mob in Corona. Christian Inga, 25, was spotted on June 18 by nearly a dozen people at a bodega near the rooming house he was living at on Waldron Street near 108th Street. He was physically restrained until cops arrived. The Ecuadorian immigrant, who was in Queens after illegally crossing the southern border at Eagle Pass, Texas, in 2021, was treated at Elmhurst Hospital before he was charged with first-degree rape and other crimes for the attack, which occurred in Kissena Corridor Park on June 13. The victim and a 13-year-old boy were playing soccer after school when Inga approached them carrying a machete-like knife, marched them to a wooded section of the park, where he bound them together, and allegedly raped the girl while forcing her friend to watch. Inga was indicted by a Queens grand jury on predatory sexual assault, rape, kidnapping, endangering the welfare of a child and other crimes. If convicted, he faces up to 25 years to life in prison.
Woodside man guns down cop during routine traffic stop in Far Rockaway
Police Officer Jonathan Diller and his partner were making a traffic stop on Mott Avenue in Far Rockaway after spotting a man with a gun just before 6 p.m. on Monday, March 25. Diller approached the vehicle while ordering the suspect to roll down the window. Guy Rivera of Woodside emerged from the vehicle, pulled out a firearm and fired a shot at point-blank range that struck Diller in the stomach just below his bulletproof vest. EMS responded and transported Diller to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he succumbed to his injury. He was promoted to Detective posthumously. Diller was 31 years old, had been on the job for three years and left behind his wife, Stephanie, and their one-year-old son.
Scooter-riding gunman goes on bloody rampage in Richmond Hill, killing 86-year-old grandfather
A Cypress Hill man was indicted for murder and five counts of attempted murder after he allegedly went on a shooting spree in Richmond Hill on the morning of July 8. Thomas Abreu was seen on surveillance video riding a scooter and shooting Hamod Saeidi in the back. EMS rushed the married father of six to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he later died.
Abreu was still riding the scooter when he continued his reign of terror, shooting at a pedestrian walking a dog and another pedestrian who was crossing the street. Abreu missed both targets. Moments later, at 126th Street and Hillside Avenue, he pulled his scooter alongside a parked minivan and shot the driver at close range in the head. That victim was hospitalized but survived. Abreu fired at another pedestrian but missed and, minutes later, fired from his scooter at another person crossing the street at Jamaica Avenue and 134th Street. The victim was struck in the shoulder but survived.
Queens DA, NYPD crack down on illegal scooters and mopeds used for criminality
Both before and in the aftermath of the Abreu rampage through the streets of Richmond Hill, the Queens District Attorney’s Office worked with multiple NYPD precincts across the borough to seize illegal mopeds and scooters. To date, more than 1,000 such vehicles have been taken off the streets of Queens for being uninsured, unregistered and illegally parked along busy commercial strips with high pedestrian traffic. The ongoing enforcement initiative will continue in 2025.
Four Cambria Heights men indicted for Dougnaston home invasion, burglary and kidnapping
Three masked men from Cambria Heights forced their way into a home on 247th Street in Douglaston as a family slept inside during the early morning hours of Aug. 17. As a fourth Cambria Heights man waited in a van outside the house, the three inside the house barged into a bedroom and awakened two adults at gunpoint. The trio allegedly physically restrained the occupants of the home and demanded to know where the cash was kept while brandishing a firearm, a hammer and a crowbar. Over $20,000 in cash was taken from the homeowners.
A mother managed to escape with her infant from a bathroom window and called 911. Police from the 111th Precinct in Bayside and the 109th Precinct in Flushing responded and determined three offenders were inside, along with four adult hostages and two children.
NYPD aviation was not available due to inclement weather, so drones were deployed. The trio was seen climbing out a window and were apprehended soon afterward.
Cambria Heights residents Jone Smith and brothers Ryan and Brandon Dash were criminally charged with kidnapping and burglary. Oneil Thompson, also of Cambria Heights, was arrested and charged with being the crew’s getaway driver.
Brooklyn man indicted for first-degree attempted murder after hitting cop with stolen car in Corona
A Brooklyn man was arrested after a long foot chase through the streets of Corona during the afternoon of Sunday, Aug. 18.
Keyah Richardson, 19, of Brownsville, was behind the wheel of a stolen car when he struck an officer investigating the auto theft on 99th Street and then drove on a sidewalk where he nearly hit a grandfather who was walking with his young granddaughter.
Richardson sped off, hitting multiple parked cars, including two unmarked police cars. He ditched the stolen Infiniti on 97th Street with police in pursuit. He then raced into the Junction Boulevard 7 train station before returning to street level. The white-knuckle chase continues with Richardson entering a building, where he scaled a ladder and jumped to an adjacent rooftop. He was finally arrested on the roof of 38-11 97th St. If convicted, Richardson faces 40 years to life in prison.
Acclaimed hip hop manager stabbed to death at Astoria nightclub in November
A Westchester man was killed after he got into an argument with another man at the Agenda Restaurant and Lounge at 28-18 31st S. during the early morning hours of Nov. 11. Percy Forrest, 55, of Port Chester, and his assailant spilled out of the nightclub onto Newtown Road, where Forrest was stabbed in the chest. Police from the 114th Precinct in Astoria responded to a 911 call of an assault in progress and found Forrest slumped over on the sidewalk in a pool of blood. He was transported by EMS to Elmhurst Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short while later.
Forrest was an established figure in the Bronx hip-hop scene. He grew up with rapper Fat Joe and collaborated with him and the Terror Squad between 1998 and 2006.
His killer remains at large, and the homicide investigation remains ongoing, police said.
Jamaica man convicted of attempted murder for shooting rookie cop following confrontation aboard MTA bus
A jury convicted Jamaica resident Devin Spraggins of attempted murder in the first degree on Nov. 12 for shooting NYPD Detective Brett Boller following a confrontation on board an MTA bus in 2023.
Boller was a rookie cop on routine patrol with his partner in the Jamaica business district. The driver of an MTA bus flagged down Boller after Spraggins assaulted a passenger on Jamaica Avenue and 160th Street. After the cops confronted Spraggins, he shoved Boller and made a run for it. During the foot pursuit, Spraggins dropped a loaded magazine on Jamaica Avenue and kept running. Spaggiins fired a shot at Boller that pierced his femoral artery and a vein in his upper thigh and shattered his hip. He attempted to fire again at Boller, but there were no bullets left in the gun after he dropped the magazine earlier in the chase. Spraggins stood over Boller, who was screaming in agony and tried to fire several times at point-blank range, but no bullets were fired after he dropped the magazine on Jamaica Avenue.
Spraggins made his getaway in a black Nissan, identified as a for-hire Lyft vehicle, that took him to a residence on 215th Street in the Wakefield section of the Bronx.
The U.S. Marshals Regional Task Force and NYPD detectives took Spraggins into custody and returned to the 103rd Precinct in Jamaica.
On Monday, Dec. 2, Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder sentenced Spraggins to 39 years to life in prison. Det. Boller sat behind Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz during sentencing. He was promoted following the shooting and continues to serve in a restricted capacity and is unlikely to return to full service.
“Devin Spraggins used an illegal firearm and shot Police Officer Brett Boller. With the officer on the ground, this defendant did not attempt escape,” Katz said. “Instead, he aimed that gun and pulled the trigger again. This would have been a cold-blooded execution if not for the magazine dropping from the gun as Spraggins ran from the police. A jury has spoken, and this defendant has now been sentenced to prison.”
