Photo Courtesy of Google
The fight started just outside Garden Inn & Suites in Jamaica.
By Forum Staff
A borough grand jury has indicted a Jamaica man for allegedly stabbing to death a resident of the Garden Inn & Suites in Jamaica in March, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced Thursday.
Jose Reyes, 28, has been arraigned on an indictment charging him with murder in the second degree, assault in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree. Reyes was ordered held without bail and to return to court on June 30.
Photo Courtesy of DA Katz’s Office
“A dispute should never rise to the level of bloodshed,” DA Katz said.
Katz said that shortly after 10 p.m. on Wednesday, March 17, Reyes and the victim, Ishmael Harvey, became embroiled in a physical altercation in front of the Garden Inn and Suites, where both men lived. A third man, who worked at the Baisley Boulevard hotel being used as a homeless shelter, attempted to break up the fight when Reyes allegedly pulled out a shiny, sharp object from his pants’ waistband and began swinging it, striking the employee on the leg. Two of this victim’s co-workers saw he was bleeding and dragged him back inside the establishment.
According to the charges, the altercation between Reyes and the 33-year-old victim continued in the park across the street from the hotel/shelter. Reyes was then observed by an eyewitness leaving the park and walking back to the front of the hotel, his clothes allegedly covered in blood. That same eyewitness also saw Harvey rolling on the ground inside the park. He, too, was soaked in blood.
Both the hotel worker and Harvey were rushed to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center. Harvey, who sustained four stab wounds to his back and one puncture wound to his neck, was pronounced dead. The hotel employee was treated for a slash to his left thigh and released.
Reyes was immediately apprehended by police officers in front of the hotel. At the time of the arrest, cops recovered a knife, allegedly from Reyes’s left jacket pocket. A box cutter also was recovered from the park.
“A dispute should never rise to the level of bloodshed,” Katz added.
If convicted, Reyes faces up to 25 years-to-life in prison.
