Wednesday, July 20, 2005

D.A. BROWN: JACKSON HEIGHTS MAN ARRAIGNED ON ILLEGAL WEAPONS POSSESSION CHARGES IN TRIPLE SHOOTING INCIDENT IN WHICH WHILE DEFENDING HIMSELF AND HIS SISTER HE SHOT AND KILLED HIS SISTER’S ESTRANGED HUSBAND AND WOUNDED TWO OTHERS; FACES UP TO SEVEN YEARS IN PRISON

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown today announced that a Jackson Heights man has been arraigned on illegal weapons possession charges in a domestic violence related triple shooting incident early Monday morning inside his apartment in which while defending himself he allegedly shot to death his sister’s estranged husband and shot and seriously wounded two of the boyfriend’s companions.

District Attorney Brown said, “It has been determined as a result of our investigation that the defendant was acting in defense of himself and his sister and was legally justified in his use of deadly physical force. Accordingly, he will face weapons possession charges only and will not be charged with homicide or other charges. The incident is yet another alarming example in which domestic violence turns deadly and the use of an illegal handgun takes a life and shatters a family.”

District Attorney Brown identified the defendant as Juan Carlos Duque, 31, of 89-09 31st Avenue in Jackson Heights, Queens, a laborer. The defendant has been charged with Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Third and Fourth Degree and faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.

The District Attorney said that according to the charges at about 4:50 a.m. on Monday, July 18, 2005 inside the defendant’s basement apartment at 83-09 31st Avenue in Jackson Heights, Queens, the defendant’s sister, Sulay Duque, 25, also of 83-09 31st Avenue, in Jackson Heights, got into a verbal dispute involving the custody of her six-year-old daughter with her estranged husband, Borislav Bunch, 28, and Bunch’s two friends, Patricia Canarte, 36, and Hugo Rodriguez, 29, and after they entered the apartment without permission and threatened to harm Ms. Duque. It is alleged that Bunch attacked Ms. Duque and that the defendant tried to intercede and get them to leave the apartment. It is further alleged that the defendant retrieved an illegal handgun from inside the apartment and fired three shots, striking Bunch in the chest, fatally wounding him, and striking Canarte and Rodriguez in the leg, wounding both of them.

According to the District Attorney, it is additionally alleged that the defendant and his sister fled the apartment in a Dodge minivan, that they were taken into custody shortly afterward by detectives of the 113th Precinct Detective Squad and that detectives recovered a loaded .40 caliber handgun from the minivan.

District Attorney Brown said the defendant was arraigned on last night in Queens Criminal Court before Judge Robert M. Raciti who set bail in the amount of $15,000 bond/$5,000 cash and a return date of August 12, 2005.

The investigation was conducted by Detective Anthony Pascal of the New York City Police Department’s 115th Precinct Detective Squad under the supervision of Lieutenant Michael Sheehan and the overall supervision of Chief of Detectives George F. Brown.

Assistant District Attorney Charissa Ilardi of the District Attorney’s Homicide Investigations Bureau assisted in the investigation of the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Peter T. Reese, Bureau Chief, Peter J. McCormack III, Deputy Bureau Chief, and Richard B. Schaeffer, Supervisor, and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Charles A. Testagrossa and Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel A. Saunders. The case will be prosecuted by District Attorney Brown’s Kew Gardens II Bureau under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Daniel M. Sullivan, Bureau Chief, Francesco Catarisano and Mark Osnowitz, Deputy Bureau Chiefs, and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Trials James C. Quinn and Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorney for Trials John H. Larsen.

It should be noted that criminal charges are merely an accusation and that defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.