FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM DECEMBER 29, 2016 • THE QUEENS COURIER 15 YEAR IN REVIEW • August 2016 The unsolved murder of Karina Vetrano Howard Beach mourned the loss of 30-year-old Karina Vetrano who was savagely raped and strangled during a nighttime jog in Spring Creek Park on Aug. 2. What is even more disturbing about the case is that cops didn’t know — and still do not know — who committed the heinous crime. In the months following her murder, Vetrano’s family off ered large sums of money as a reward to anyone who would come forward with information on their daughter’s death, but still no solid lead s came. Residents of Howard Beach remained on edge, fearing for their safety. Th e investigation into her murder remains ongoing. Ozone Park imam executed in cold blood Th e bloody summer in the “World’s Borough” continued on Aug. 13 when Oscar Morel, 35, of East New York shot Imam Maulana Akonjee and his assistant Th ara Uddin in the head on 79th Street near the intersection of Liberty Avenue in Ozone Park. Morel was arrested on Aug. 16 and was charged with fi rst- and second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon. Commissioner Bratton calls it quits In August, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton announced that he would be retiring in September, and then-Chief of the Department James O’Neill would be taking his place. Bratton served two stints as Police Commissioner — once under former Mayor Rudy Giuliani in the mid-1990s, and again under current Mayor Bill de Blasio. O’Neill, a native of Flatbush, Brooklyn, committed himself to continue strengthening the relationship between the police force and the people of New York City. City eyes homeless shelter in Maspeth Early August saw the contentious start of what would quickly become known as the Maspeth Shelter War. Residents and several civic organizations banded together to fi ght Mayor Bill de Blasio’s attempt at turning a Holiday Inn Express into a homeless shelter aft er a closed-door meeting between city offi cials and community leaders. In the coming weeks and months, rallies were organized outside of the hotel and even the homes of the city’s Department of Social Services (DSS) Commissioner Steven Banks and the owner of the Holiday Inn, Harshad Patel.
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