ELMHURST, Queens (PIX11) — A Queens pizzeria owner is being hailed as a hero after stopping a man armed with a box cutter from wreaking havoc during the dinner rush on Wednesday evening.
“I had a couple of customers in the front. The older woman says to me, ‘He has a knife.’ He’s like cursing us out, telling us give me food, give me this. I gave him a slice of pizza,” Louie’s Pizza owner, Louie Suljovic, told PIX11 News on Friday.
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But even after the kind gesture, the belligerent suspect left, but came back even more hostile, the owner said.
Police said Jose Guadfebles, 34, allegedly threatened a 41-year-old worker with a box cutter after storming into the popular Elmhurst eatery on Baxter Avenue at around 9:10 p.m.
Louie Suljovic, owner of Louie’s Pizza in Queens, saved customers from a man armed with a box cutter on Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (Credit: PIX11 News)
The owner sensed the 15 or so dining customers were in danger, so he sprang into action and jumped on the man. The suspect then ran into the storefront glass door– shattering it — while the owner was trying to subdue him, according to police and Suljovic.
“He’s a very good man. It’s not the first time. He’s a hero to the community. Put it like that,” a frequent customer told PIX11 News.
NYPD officers arrived at the scene and arrested Guadfebles, a Queens resident, with criminal mischief and menacing, police said. His arraignment was pending.
“They show a small business isn’t just a storefront trying to make money,” said Jonathan Forgash, co-founder and executive director of Queens Together.
Mira Wassef is an award-winning reporter who has covered news and sports in the NYC area for more than a decade. She joined the PIX11 News digital team in 2022. See more of her work here.
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