![\"Jason](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/flushing-man-prison-fatally-stabbing-stranger01.webp.jpeg\")
\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Jason Schuler, 41, was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for stabbing a stranger to death in an unprovoked attack in 2023 during a night of heavy drinking. <\/p>\n
Photo by Lloyd Mitchell<\/p>\n
A Flushing<\/a> man was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for stabbing a stranger to death during a drunken unprovoked attack<\/a> at a local bar in September 2023. <\/p>\n Jason Schuler, 41, of\u00a0 the Bland Houses, was convicted at trial last month of murder in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon for the fatal stabbing of 45-year-old Elliott Christopher Ortiz with a large kitchen knife while both were on the patio of Kelly\u2019s Pub at 136-11 41st St., just over a block away from his home on Roosevelt Avenue. The jury deliberated for approximately two hours before reaching a guilty verdict.<\/p>\n According to the charge and trial testimony, on Sept. 24, at around 7:30 p.m., Schuler, who possessed a kitchen knife concealed in his pants, purchased alcohol at a Flushing liquor store while already appearing intoxicated. He returned to the same store about an hour later and bought a second bottle of booze. At around 9:15 p.m., Schuler was drinking with a companion on Main Street in Flushing and then walked towards Kelly\u2019s Pub on 41st Avenue and went inside. Ortiz and his friend arrived at the bar around 9:24 p.m., that same evening.<\/p>\n Approximately 10 minutes later, a bar employee saw Schuler drinking from his own liquor bottle and asked him to leave. He instead went to the patio at the rear of the tavern where Ortiz and his friend were located. Schuler, without provocation, removed the kitchen knife from his pants and stabbed Ortiz in his face, just below his temple, causing a 7.5-inch-deep wound and severing the carotid artery. In the ensuing struggle, Ortiz\u2019s friend stabbed Schuler and disarmed him. Immediately after the attack, Ortiz stumbled out of the bar and met his companion around the corner on Main Street. Police from the 109th Precinct responded to a 911 call of an assault in progress at the location. <\/p>\n As patrol officers approached Schuler, he was asking his companion to take a photo of him while he posed covered in Ortiz\u2019s blood. The victim remained at Kelly\u2019s Pub awaiting medical attention. EMS responded to the scene and rushed Ortiz to New York-Presbyterian Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead. Crime scene investigators recovered the bloody kitchen knife inside Kelly\u2019s Pub.<\/p>\n \u201cThis defendant roamed the streets of Queens while drunk and armed with a kitchen knife before he mercilessly attacked and killed Elliott Christopher Ortiz without provocation,\u201d Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. \u201cThis type of senseless violence will always be met with swift and decisive action by my office.\u201d<\/p>\n Trial openings began Feb. 19 and closing arguments took place on Feb. 27 with the jury reaching a guilty verdict that same day. Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder sentenced Schuler on March 18 to 25 years to life in prison.<\/p>\n \u201cI thank members of my Homicide Bureau for prosecuting this case and securing a murder conviction,\u201d Katz said. \u201cWe hope this sentence provides a measure of solace to the victim\u2019s loved ones as they continue to grieve.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jason Schuler, 41, was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for stabbing a stranger to death…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":172545,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[310,70391,9951,70392,9,24,63,122,5193,124,123,260],"class_list":["post-172544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-daily-newsletter","tag-elliott-christopher-ortiz","tag-fatal-stabbing","tag-jason-schuler","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-district-attorney-melinda-katz","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-stabbing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172544\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Schuler](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/flushing-man-prison-fatally-stabbing-stranger02.webp.jpeg\")
Schuler was inebriated and roaming the streets of Flushing when he stumbled into Kelly\u2019s Pub, where he stabbed his victim in the face with a large kitchen knife. Photo by Lloyd Mitchell<\/p>\n