Hate Crime Murder Indictment in Far Rockaway
Queens district attorney slaps defendant with fi ve charges in Labor Day fatal stabbing
BY MATT TRACY
A 51-year-old Queens
man who allegedly
hurled homophobic
slurs at another man
before stabbing him to death on
Labor Day was charged with murder
as a hate crime, among other
charges, on September 24, Queens
District Attorney Melinda Katz announced.
The fatal stabbing originated
when the alleged assailant,
James Williams, was sitting next
to 20-year-old Massiah Berkley
on a bench located on a pathway
near Beach 20th Street in the Far
Rockaway section of Queens on
September 7, according to prosecutors.
Williams allegedly called
Berkley a “faggot,” prompting a
confrontation between the two
individuals.
At that point, Williams pulled
Massiah Berkley, a mural artist who was described by the Anti-Violence Project as a queer Black man,
was fatally stabbed on Labor Day.
out a knife and stabbed Berkley
in the chest and the back of his
head, prosecutors said. Police arrived
at the scene just before 4 p.m.
FACEBOOK/ MASSIAH SHADOOW BERKLEY
and found Berkley on the ground,
where he was bleeding from his
chest. He was transported to a
nearby hospital and subsequently
CRIME
succumbed to his wounds.
Cops arrested Williams near the
scene shortly after the attack.
While it is not clear what
prompted Williams to start voicing
anti-LGBTQ slurs at Berkley, the
New York City Anti-Violence Project
described the late 20-year-old as a
queer Black man and the New York
Daily News reported that Williams
told authorities he knew Berkley
and “had multiple altercations”
with him in the past.
The Daily News also reported
that Williams told authorities that
he “pulled out a fi shing knife and I
swung it at Massiah a few times
and hit him one time.”
Katz believes Williams’ apparent
use of the slurs evidenced his motivation
behind the fatal stabbing.
“The defendant’s own words
allegedly reveal that his bigoted
➤ ROCKAWAY MURDER, continued on p.23
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