By Ivan Pereira
Thursday, September 2, 2010
For the fourth time this summer an out-of-control party in a southeast Queens neighborhood was the site of a violent shooting early Sunday morning that took the life of a reveler and frightened nearby residents, police said.
Mazile Hellios, 26, of Vanderbeer Street in Queens Village, was gunned down in a drive-by shooting outside a house at 145th Avenue and Francis Lewis Boulevard in Rosedale, police said. A large and loud party was in full tilt on the front lawn around 2:45 a.m., police said, and the unapprehended shooter took aim at Hellios before fleeing the scene, investigators and neighbors said.
The shooting was random, according to residents, many of whom said they were afraid to leave their homes.
“It was kind of scary,” said a man who lived next to the house where the party took place and refused to give his name.
Investigators did not have any description of the shooter or the vehicle that was used in the shooting as of press time Tuesday. The investigation was ongoing.
Neighbors said the party was loud and rowdy with dozens of people from outside the neighborhood attending. Several empty beer cans, bottles and plastic red cups were still scattered on the front lawn Monday morning.
It was the fourth time in as many months that a murder had occurred at a large gathering in southeast Queens.
In July, Robinson Lajeunesse was killed by a shotgun blast at a St. Albans get-together which nearly 200 people attended. The party-goers got wind of the events through announcements on social networking websites such as Twitter and Facebook, according to investigators.
In May, Dane Freeman was murdered and six others were wounded in a shooting that took place at an outdoor Springfield Gardens party. The event was supposed to be an informal reunion among some middle-school classmates, but dozens of participants came after it was posted on Facebook and Twitter, police said.
A week before Freeman’s killing, Kendrick Ali Morrow was murdered following an argument at a party in Springfield Gardens.
There have been no arrests in any of the shootings as of press time Tuesday.
In light of the surge in the unruly parties and the violence associated with them, Queens Patrol Borough South has set up a special task force aimed at cracking down on these gatherings.
