Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz today announced that two Martin Van Buren High School students have been charged with attempted gang assault and other crimes after a brawl Thursday inside the school.

District Attorney Katz said: “As detailed in the complaint, this was a vicious attack. The brutality was chilling under any circumstance, but that it occurred in what parents should be able to assume is a safe place for their children is as unsettling as the violence captured on video. We will not allow the critical role public schools play in the life of our city to be brazenly and violently jeopardized.”

Defendant 1, a 17-year-old from 106^th Avenue in Queens Village, is charged with attempted gang assault in the first degree, attempted assault in the first degree, assault in the second degree, two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon on school grounds. Defendant 2, a 17-year-old from 131^st Road in Rosedale, is charged with attempted gang assault in the first degree, attempted assault in the first degree and assault in the second degree.

They face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

According to the charges and video evidence:

• Defendant 2 punched another student multiple times in the face and body, tackled him and slammed him into a metal door inside the school on Hillside Avenue in Queens Village.
• Both defendants, along with four others who have not yet been apprehended, kicked, stomped and punched the victim multiple times in the head and body while the victim was in a prone position on the floor.
• Defendant 2 stomped and kicked the victim causing him to slam against the floor.
• Defendant 1 stomped on the victim’s head with his foot.
• Defendant 1 was searched in the principal’s office after the assault and a 9 mm semi-automatic Smith & Wesson pistol loaded with a round in the chamber and seven rounds in the magazine was recovered.
• The victim suffering bruising to his face and eye. The full extent of his injuries has not yet been determined.
• Both defendants were stabbed during the fight.

The investigation was conducted by Detective Michael O’Sullivan of the New York City Police Department’s 105^th Precinct Detective Squad under the supervision of Lieutenant Christopher Kehoe and under the overall supervision of Inspector Donald Boller, commanding officer of the Detective Borough Queens South.

Assistant District Attorney Kevin Timpone, of the District Attorney’s Violent Criminal Enterprises Bureau is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Jonathan R. Sennett, Bureau Chief, Michelle Goldstein, Senior Deputy Chief, and Barry Frankenstein, Deputy Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney of Investigations Gerard Brave.