A 15-year-old boy has been arrested for firing a gun at a rival and instead killing a grandfather driving in Queens, sparking a crash that injured a pedestrian, police said Wednesday.
Police are not naming the suspect due to his age. The teen was arrested just after midnight Wednesday and charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon.
Police say the teen ran off after he opened fire on a rival from the parking lot of the Popeye’s near 117th Road and Farmers Blvd. in St. Albans about 4:50 p.m. Monday, instead killing 66-year-old William Alcindor as he drove past in his Nissan SUV.
Alcindor, a father of three who was described by his family as a hard-working Haitian immigrant, lost control of his vehicle and plowed into a 23-year-old woman crossing the street before crashing into a building.
EMTs transported Alcindor to Jamaica Hospital, where he was subsequently pronounced dead. The injured pedestrian was taken to the same hospital in stable condition.
Alcindor’s daughter told the Daily News she needed to know that police had gotten the right suspect and any possible accomplices of the teen before she could begin to feel any relief.
“I need it to be 100 percent that it’s this kid who did it,” Gabriella Alcindor, 25, said. “I won’t feel the justice until he is put away. Actions have consequences.”
The heartbroken daughter said she was waiting to hear if her father’s body was still with the Medical Examiner and that her family wanted to attend every court hearing, but that nothing would undo the tragic loss.
“At the end of the day that won’t bring me back my dad,” she said.
