54-Year-Old Man Stabbed To Death In Queens, Investigation Ongoing
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - An investigation is underway after a 54-year-old man was stabbed to death across from a park in Springfield Gardens, Queens.
Millie asks we not give out her last name, but says the victim, Jose De La Cruz, was a longtime Springfield Gardens resident. She describes him as quiet and hardworking as a cleaner at the airport and at a bodega to send money back to his native Dominican Republic and his wife and two daughters who live there.
"This man would help anybody, anybody," she told CBSN New York's Dave Carlin.
She says she wants justice for her close friend, who was fatally stabbed Friday night and whose killer is on the loose.
"Wonderful guy. This man did not drink. He didn't do drugs," Millie said.
Friends of De La Cruz said he spent Friday night working at the corner deli, and his shift ended at 10 p.m.
Heading home to his apartment on 135th Avenue, De La Cruz cut through the park to an area in front of the Garden Inn and Suites, which used to be a hotel but now houses a large population of homeless men.
He was stabbed multiple times and left to die on Baisley Boulevard.
Currently, police are not connecting anyone from the hotel-turned-shelter to the crime, but neighbors see crime rising on these streets and suspect it could be linked to nearby facilities.
"We have probably four or five shelters within a 2- to 3-mile radius. It's just too much," one man said.
"I couldn't believe it because he was only a block away from the house," Anna Martinez, a cousin of De La Cruz, said.
Martinez said the family learned from police that his wallet was not taken.
Others who know him are baffled it came to this.
"Jose had no enemies. Jose was a hardworking man, bothered no one," one man said.
Police were visible in the area of the murder a day later. Residents say this is a place that needs boosted constant police patrols, especially with a killer still out there.
Anyone who has information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-8477 or for Spanish, 1-888-577-4782. Tips can also be sent to the NYPDTips Twitter account or submitted online at NYPDCrimeStoppers.com.