Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that seven teenagers were indicted for attempted murder, gang assault, robbery and other crimes for an attack on two younger teens on May 2 in Kissena Park in Flushing. The defendants are alleged to have beaten the victims with a metal baseball bat, kicked and punched them and stolen their property.

District Attorney Katz said: “As alleged, a group of students lured two younger teenagers into the woods of Kissena Park and relentlessly beat them with a metal baseball bat, punches and kicks. One victim was choked into unconsciousness by a defendant, while another perpetrator shaved the child’s head. This was an outrageous act of mob violence, and these children will never forget the cruelty they experienced at the hands of these defendants.”

The defendants, who are all 17 years old, were charged in two separate 25-count indictments with two counts of attempted murder in the second degree, two counts of gang assault in the first degree, two counts of assault in the first degree, four counts of robbery in the first degree, two counts of gang assault in the second degree, four counts of robbery in the second degree, four counts of assault in the second degree, strangulation in the second degree, criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation and three counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree.

The defendants were variously arraigned by Supreme Court Justice Bruna DiBiase between June 4 and Wednesday. If convicted, they face up to 25 years in prison.

District Attorney Katz said that, according to the charges, on May 2, one of the defendants, a 17-year-old girl, lured a 13-year-old with whom she had been friends, to Kissena Park. The pair had a falling out about a month earlier.

The 13-year-old went to the park and was playing basketball with a friend, who was 16. They were approached by a group of approximately eight people, including the 17-year-old who lured the victim to the park.

The defendants instructed the teens to go to the woods and members of the group threatened the younger teens by telling them that a beating on the concrete playground would be worse than in the woods.

Once in the woods, the 16-year-old victim was hit multiple times in the head and body with a metal bat and gloves that had metal spikes on them. The victim’s sweater and shoes were removed as the beating continued.

The 13-year-old attempted to intervene but was kicked and punched multiple times and hit with a metal bat.

The 16-year-old was strangled and lost consciousness. At the same time, one of the teens allegedly partially shaved the victim’s head with battery-operated hair clippers and continued to assault the teen

The teen attackers then fled with the 16-year-old’s shoes, sweater and phone. The younger victim’s phone was broken with the metal bat.

A passerby called police and the two victims were taken to hospitals. The younger one suffered bruising and swelling all over the body and head, damage to the back of the eye, headaches and a concussion. The older victim had bruising and swelling, headaches and memory loss.

Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Leung of the District Attorney’s Felony Trial Bureau IV is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Karen Rankin, Bureau Chief, Tara DiGregorio and Robert Ferino, Deputy Bureau Chiefs, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for the Supreme Court Trial Division Pishoy Yacoub.