Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Antonio Quinones was indicted and arraigned on charges of assault, attempted assault and criminal possession of a weapon for attacking two people with a boxcutter outside of a fish market on Broadway in Astoria last month.

District Attorney Katz said: “As alleged, this defendant took out a boxcutter and attacked two people outside an Astoria market. He slashed the coat of a 54-year-old man with whom he had a verbal argument and then cut a 29-year-old woman’s face causing a deep laceration. A grand jury has now returned serious charges against the defendant who faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.”

Quinones, 35, of Woodside, was arraigned yesterday on a four-count indictment charging him with assault in the first degree, assault in the second degree, attempted assault in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree. Supreme Court Justice Toni Cimino ordered him to return to court on June 9. If convicted, Quinones faces up to 25 years in prison.

DA Katz said that, according to the indictment and investigation, on March 2, at approximately 4:20 p.m., Quinones was inside the Broadway Deli & Grill in Astoria when he began arguing with another patron and stepped on the man’s shoe. The defendant and customer went outside the store and the argument briefly continued.

Quinones then kicked the man’s motorized scooter, which was parked outside the fish market next door, and threw a cup of coffee on it. Quinones allegedly took out a sharp blade and swung at the victim several times. The blade swings pierced the victim’s jacket on the body and on the sleeve. The victim pushed Quinones away and drove off on his scooter.

The defendant then argued briefly with a second victim, a 29-year-old woman, and slashed her across the face with the blade. Quinones fled the scene and was apprehended a short time later by members of the NYPD.

Assistant District Attorney Dylan Nesturrick 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, Roni C. Piplani and Timothy Regan, Deputy Bureau Chiefs, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Shawn Clark.