Out-of-towner is city’s first homicide victim of 2017
A man in town for his grandmother’s funeral became the city’s first homicide victim of the year Monday when he was shot coming to the aid of his younger brother, police and family said.
Rickey Kalisaran, 31, was killed in Queens as a robber tried to snatch a heavy gold necklace from around his brother’s neck, cops and kin said.
Kalisaran, who had traveled from Guyana to attend his grandmother’s funeral this week, was blasted several times in the chest on 124th Street in South Ozone Park as he ran to the aid of his younger sibling, Sunny, 24, they said.
Family members said the brothers were coming home from a nearby nightclub when robbers driving a Mercedes spotted Sunny’s bling.
Sunny, the father of a newborn, was also shot several times in the back and is in critical condition but expected to survive, they said.
Friends said they have warned Sunny in the past that he is a walking target for robbers.
“This is not the first time he’s been in a situation like that,” a co-worker — who wanted to be identified only by his first name, Martin — said of Sunny.
“It’s the way he dresses. Even at work we tell him: You can’t dress like that. He’s said he’s gotten in fights over his chains before.”
Cops say the shooter intended to rob the victims but instead opened fire and took nothing.
The gunman fled in a vehicle driven by another man, authorities said.
Both siblings were taken to Jamaica Hospital, where Rickey Kalisaran was pronounced dead and his younger brother is being treated.
Family member Derrick Preshad said Rickey had arrived the day before from Guyana to attend his grandmother’s funeral.
“Their grandma just died,” said Preshad. “There are three brothers. Their daddy passed not even a year ago.”
Meanwhile, another man was stabbed to death about 5 a.m. in a Bronx apartment building on Hoe Avenue near Freeman Street.
The 42-year-old victim and a woman got into a dispute while doing drugs with another person inside the apartment, police sources said.
A neighbor heard the commotion and called cops.
The bloodied victim stumbled out of the fifth-floor apartment, police sources said.
Police found him with stab wounds to his head and chest. He was declared dead at St. Barnabas Hospital.
Authorities are looking for the woman, who fled. The third person remained on scene and is cooperating with investigators, police sources said.
No arrests have been made in either slaying.