A jilted lover’s attempt to punish his former girlfriend’s beau led to a kidnapping, wild car chase, and one shot being fired. The suspect eventually got away.
A 23-year-old male was forced from his girlfriend’s house on Ely Avenue at gunpoint and taken to a house at 1225 Hollywood Avenue, where a friend of the suspect lived. The kidnapping occurred at approximately 10 a.m. on Thursday, April 24.
The suspect then returned to the Throggs Neck house at approximately 2:30 p.m., after failing to capture his former girlfriend. Police believe the suspect, 25 years old, planned to execute both individuals. While he was away, his victim managed to alert police of the situation.
When plainclothes officers moved in to arrest the suspect, he jumped back into his white Infiniti and took off with police in pursuit in a car chase that winded through the streets of Throggs Neck.
“He began to ram cars near Bruckner Boulevard and Crosby Avenue while trying to flee northbound on the expressway,” said community affairs officer Mike O’Conner of the 45th Precinct. “Police officers surrounded the car when he got stuck in traffic on the overpass. An officer noticed him reaching for a gun in his waistband and fired one shot. The suspect then pushed past two cars, got through the intersection, and fled the scene.”
The suspect fled north on I-95. His car and gun were recovered, but as of press time he is still on the lam.
The incident ruffled a lot of feathers in the normally quiet block where the drama played out.
“The corner of Hollywood and Baisley avenues, as well as Hollywood and Hobart avenues and all of the access points to the Bruckner Expressway were all taped off by police lines,” said Fanny Scalfani, who lives on the street where the kidnapping victim was taken.
Scalfani said that soon after the suspect fled there were large amounts of uniformed officers in the vicinity of the corner of Hollywood and Baisley avenues, where reports indicate that the chase began.
“There were tons of police here,” Scalfani said. “There were police cars that were parked horizontally in the street [as roadblocks]. There was a helicopter circling overhead.”
