A Corona man was charged with murder for allegedly stabbing a Jackson Heights man to death on Roosevelt Avenue.
File photo by Lloyd Mitchell
A Corona man is being held without bail for allegedly stabbing another man to death on Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights during the early morning of Thursday, Sept. 17.
Jose Luis Rodriguez Balda, 38, of 38th Avenue, was arraigned on Sept. 19 in Queens Criminal Court on a complaint charging him with murder in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon for killing Angel Marcelo Escalante Gamazo, 48, of Roosevelt Avenue near 76th Street.
The two men had a verbal dispute in front of a small business at 76-09 Roosevelt Ave. just after 4 a.m., when the argument turned violent. Rodriguez Balda brandished a knife and plunged it into the victim’s torso, just under the arm, causing damage to his axillary artery, according to the criminal complaint.
Police from the 115th Precinct in Jackson Heights responded to a 911 call of a man stabbed at the location, where they found Escalante lying in a pool of blood less than a block west of his home. EMS rushed him to Elmhurst Hospital, where he was listed in critical condition. Escalante succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead on Friday, Sept. 18.
Homicide detectives from the 115th Precinct arrested Rodriguez hours later after interviewing witnesses and reviewing video surveillance from the crime scene, as well as admissions made by the defendant. Rodriguez Balda was arraigned a day later before Queens Criminal Court Judge Lana Schlesinger, who remanded him into custody without bail.