Volume 74, Number 36 | January 12 – 18, 2005
Police Blotter
Shooting death
One man was dead and another was slightly injured when a gunman fired about 10 shots in a crowded discount clothing outlet on the second floor of 15 W. 27th St., at 4:18 p.m., Wed., Jan. 5, police said.
Ali Nasser al-Din, 48, a Lebanese immigrant who worked at the shop, was declared dead at the scene with bullet wounds in the head, neck, torso and leg. The other victim, 29, who also worked at the shop, was treated at St. Vincent’s Hospital for a graze wound in his back.
Police said witnesses at first told them the gunman was one of three men who entered the second-floor bazaar, where several shops are located, and started arguing with the two victims at a footwear outlet. Police later said they were looking for only one suspect, described as a black man about 6 ft. tall, dressed all in black — baseball cap, waist-length jacket, trousers and shoes.
Police did not say what prompted the shooting, but the building has been plagued with thefts. In 2003, several defendants were charged with stealing more than $2 million worth of merchandise from the building. The building also has been cited for several violations over the past five years, and police have seized counterfeit merchandise in the neighborhood.
Avenue A club stabbing
One man in a group of patrons leaving Parlay, a club at 206 Avenue A, at 3 a.m., Sun., Jan. 9, stabbed two bouncers who tried to stop the group from skipping out on their bill, police said.
The suspect, described as having teeth capped in silver and wearing a fur coat, and his companions ripped the club’s doors off their hinges and fled.
One of the victims, 30, was stabbed in the right shoulder and left arm and taken to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition. The other, 24, was cut on the left arm and refused medical attention.
Arrest assault suspects
Police arrested two suspects at the scene of an assault on Park Ave. S. at 20th St. at 3:50 a.m., Sat., Jan. 8. Mohammad Abdal-Shabbas, 20, of 2412 Bragg St., Brooklyn, and Mohammad Asif, 20, of 1624 Coney Island Ave., Brooklyn, were charged with assaulting the victim with an aluminum baseball bat and a wooden stick, police said. The victim, 24, was taken to Bellevue Hospital in critical but stable condition.
Stabbed at the Copa
Police arrested a man in connection with the stabbing of a patron in the Copacabana, at 560 W. 34th St., at 3:40 a.m. on Sat., Jan. 8. Adolf Butt, 29, of 1830 Lexington Ave., was charged with assault. The victim, 25, was taken to St. Vincent’s Hospital in serious but stable condition. Police said a knife was recovered at the scene.
East Village girl missing
Angelica Rojas, 11, last seen on her way to school in the company of a boy, 15, at 8:30 a.m. Jan. 4 on Avenue C and 12th St., was still missing on Tuesday morning, Jan 11, according to police. The girl was described as 5 ft. 2 in., with a thin build and brown hair and eyes, wearing a black bubble jacket, light blue jeans and white “Uptown” sneakers.
Teacher-as-sex partner
A science teacher at City-as-School on Clarkson St. was assigned to administrative duties last week after an investigation into charges that he had engaged in consensual sexual activity with a female student, 18, in a classroom in the school early in December.
Richard Condon, special commissioner for investigations in the Department of Education, said the teacher, Fernando Salvador, 54, is accused of having “an inappropriate relationship” but no criminal activity because the student is not a minor.
Investigators reported that Salvador performed oral sex on the student on the afternoon of Dec. 3 in a darkened locked classroom but was discovered when another teacher walked in. Salvador has denied having sexual contact with the student, but investigators said she confirmed the encounter.
A Department of Education spokesperson said the department was seeking to dismiss Salvador and another teacher at West Side High School on W. 102nd St. who began a consensual sexual relationship with a student in October.
Albert Amateau
