Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Haiyan Deng, 31, has been indicted by a Queens County grand jury and arraigned in Supreme Court on murder, burglary and gun charges. The defendant was extradited from New Mexico after fleeing New York City where she allegedly shot and killed a man in her apartment in Flushing, Queens on September 18, 2021.

District Attorney Katz said, “The defendant is accused of shooting the victim in the head, then taking his car to flee the state. Gun violence is never the solution. The defendant has been returned to Queens. She now faces very serious charges.”

Deng, of 39^th Avenue in Flushing, was arraigned late this afternoon before Queens Supreme Court Justice Ushir Pandit-Durant on a nine-count indictment. The defendant is charged with murder in the second degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the second and fourth degree, burglary in the first degree, assault in the third degree, criminal mischief in the fourth degree and harassment in the second degree. Justice Pandit-Durant set the defendant’s return date for February 3, 2022. If convicted, Deng faces ups to 25 years-to-life in prison.

According to the indictment, Deng shot and killed Justin Li in her Flushing, Queens apartment on September 18^th. First responders conducting a wellness check on the 26-year-old victim found him deceased in the defendant’s bed. He was bleeding from a single  gunshot wound to the head and was discovered a day later on September 19^th.

DA Katz continued that the defendant fled the scene. She was apprehended in New Mexico after the car she was driving broke down on the side of the road. New Mexico State Troopers recovered a loaded revolver allegedly from the defendant’s car which was a ballistic match to the bullet recovered in the defendant’s bedroom. Deng was also allegedly found to be in possession of the victim’s personal property. The defendant was held by authorities in New Mexico until she could be extradited to New York.

The investigation was conducted by Detective Brian Hilt, of the Queens North Homicide Squad, and Detective Carl Caputo of the 109^th Precinct Detective Squad, both of the New York City Police Department.

The District Attorney would like to thank the New Mexico State Police for their assistance in this case.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Selkowe, of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau, is prosecuting the case, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Peter J. McCormack III and John Kosinski Senior Deputy Bureau Chiefs, and Karen Ross, Deputy Bureau Chief and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel A. Saunders.