Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Shaleek Brunson was arraigned on charges of assault, criminal possession of a weapon and other crimes for wielding a hammer and chasing a woman onto the grounds of the Jewish Institute of Queens in Rego Park. While there, Brunson pushed an 8-year-old boy into a fence and bit an employee.

District Attorney Katz said “As alleged, this hammer-wielding defendant terrorized a woman walking down a Queens street, causing her to fear for her life and run nearly a quarter of a mile to get away from him and toward a local school. Once on school grounds, defendant Shaleek Brunson attacked a child outside the building and an employee inside. This daytime assault shattered the sense of safety and security for everyone connected to this school and neighborhood. I thank the brave first responders who apprehended this defendant before he could harm another person.”

Brunson, 42, of Brooklyn, was arraigned today on a criminal complaint charging him with five counts of assault in the second degree, one count of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, two counts of assault in the third degree, menacing in the second degree, endangering the welfare of a child and criminal trespass in the third degree. Judge Sharifa Nasser-Cuellar remanded the defendant and ordered him to return to court on August 3. If convicted, Brunson faces up to 14 years in prison.

DA Katz said that, according to the charges, at approximately 11 a.m. on July 28, Brunson approached a woman outside 90-02 Queens Boulevard in Elmhurst and chased her while wielding a hammer. She ran for approximately a quarter mile, eventually seeking refuge in a fenced-in area of the Jewish Institute on Woodhaven Boulevard. Brunson followed her onto the school property, pulled on the front doors then pushed into the fenced-in schoolyard, where an 8-year-old boy was standing. The defendant pushed the boy into the fence causing his head to strike the fence. The boy sustained a laceration to his forehead. Brunson then ran into the school and bit a school employee who held on to Brunson until the police arrived.

The boy was taken to a local hospital where he received six stiches to his head. The employee was also treated at a hospital for sustained redness and substantial pain from the bite to his hand.

Police recovered the hammer from the scene of the incident.

The investigation was conducted by members of the 112^th Precinct.

Assistant District Attorney Danielle Catinella of the District Attorney’s Career Criminal Major Crimes Bureau is prosecuting the case, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Michael Whitney, Bureau Chief, Timothy Regan, Deputy Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Shawn Clark.