Press Release
QUEENS MAN CONVICTED OF ATTEMPTED MURDER AND ASSAULT IN STABBING OF TWO MEN IN 2017
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz today announced today that Terrence Harry, 40, has been convicted of attempted murder and other crimes in the September 23, 2017, stabbing of two men inside a garage near the Van Wyck Expressway in South Ozone Park, Queens.
District Attorney Katz said, “This defendant resorted to violence with a weapon to settle a dispute. As a result, he nearly took the life of one man and severely injured another. He now faces a lengthy prison term when sentenced by the Court.”
Harry, of 119th Avenue in Jamaica, was convicted yesterday after a two-week non-jury trial. Queens Supreme Court Justice Michelle Johnson found the defendant guilty of attempted murder in the second degree, assault in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree. Justice Johnson set sentencing for January 26, 2022, at which time the defendant faces up to 25 years in prison.
District Attorney Katz said, according to trial testimony, on Sunday, September 23, 2017, at approximately 12:50 p.m., defendant Harry was inside the car garage of Myron Hennings. A third man, Shamel Potter, 39, was also present at the location. The defendant, who was a stranger to Mr. Potter, began talking aloud, then without provocation pulled out a knife and stabbed Mr. Potter in the left side of his neck. When Mr. Hennings attempted to intervene, he was also stabbed by the defendant in the back. The defendant then fled the scene.
A branch of Mr. Potter’s carotid artery was severed, and his trachea was in danger of being disabled as a result of the stabbing. The victim underwent emergency surgery, was intubated for several days and was unable to eat solid food for months. Mr. Hennings required multiple staples to close the stab wound he sustained during the attack.
Assistant District Attorney Matthew Luongo, of the Career Criminal Major Crimes Bureau, prosecuted the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Shawn Clark, Bureau Chief, and Michael Whitney, Deputy Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney of the Major Crimes Division Daniel A. Saunders.