Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that a 16-year-old was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, petit larceny and other crimes in the gunpoint theft of a French bulldog on Christmas day in Long Island City.

District Attorney Katz said: “Pulling a gun in broad daylight to steal a dog and then casually taking the animal for a stroll is a kind of dangerous brazenness we will not tolerate under any circumstance. The defendant will have to answer for the charges against him.”

The defendant, of Sheffield Avenue in Brooklyn, was charged with two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree, criminal possession of a firearm, menacing in the second degree, petit larceny and criminal possession of stolen property in the fifth degree. Criminal Court Judge Leigh Cheng  ordered the defendant to return to court on January 9.

According to the charges:

• On December 25, at approximately 9:00 a.m., a 15-year-old was walking his dog when the defendant approached him in front of 41-14 10^th Street, held a gun to his chest and told him he had five seconds to run.
• The dog owner dropped the leash and ran. He called police.
• Approximately 15 minutes later, an NYPD officer saw the defendant with the dog a short distance away, in the vicinity of 38-16 10^th Street, and observed him throw a firearm over a fence.
• A 9 mm gun containing 12 rounds of ammunition was found in a parking lot on the opposite side of the fence where the defendant threw it.
• The dog was returned to its owner.

Assistant District Attorney Ranshitha Devendran of the District Attorney’s Felony Crimes Bureau III is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Rachel Buchter, Bureau Chief, Peter Lomp and Christine McCoy, Deputy Chiefs, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney of the Trials Division Pishoy B. Yacoub.