A patient at a mental health facility located on the sprawling 125-acre Creedmoor Psychiatric Center campus in Queens Village is accused of killing his roommate who was found dead lying in a pool of blood Monday morning. David Zheng, 23, was arrested and charged with murder in the second degree and other related crimes murder in the fatal stabbing of 63-year-old Ronald Giacopelli.
Police from the 105th Precinct in Queens Village responded to a 911 call at 10:36 a.m. about a man in need of medical attention at Hazel House, a 52-bed licensed residential program operated by Transitional Services of New York, at 80-45 Winchester Blvd. Officers found Giacopelli lying face down in a pool of blood, unconscious and unresponsive, with multiple stab wounds to the back of his neck and lower back, according to a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation.
EMS responded to the facility and pronounced Giacopelli dead at the crime scene. A bloody kitchen knife was recovered near the victim. Zheng was taken into custody as a person of interest and questioned at the 105th Precinct. He was placed under arrest just before 7 p.m. and additionally charged with criminal possession of a weapon and tampering with physical evidence. Zheng is awaiting his arraignment in Queens Criminal Court which is pending late Tuesday or Wednesday.
The fatal stabbing did not occur within the confines of the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center hospital. The New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) is prohibited by state and federal law from disclosing any protected health information.
“OMH was alerted to a fatal stabbing that occurred earlier today at Hazel House, a licensed residential program operated by a community service provider on the campus of the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center,” the agency said in a statement on Monday afternoon. “We are fully cooperating with the NYPD’s investigation and will review the circumstances that lead to this tragic event.”
Anyone with information regarding this homicide investigation is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org or on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are confidential.
The fatal stabbing is the 105th Precinct’s first homicide of 2015, according to CompStat.
Additional reporting by Dean Moses
