13 • TIMES, THURSDAY, MAY 29, 2014 Enjoying A ‘Taste Of Sunnyside’ Under One Tent Hundreds enjoyed sampling some of Sunnyside’s finest eateries al fresco during the Sunnyside Shines Business Improvement District’s (BID) “Taste of Sunnyside” event last Tuesday night, May 20. The second-annual event was held under the 7 line along Queens Boulevard between 45th and 46th streets. Diners enjoyed music provided by various entertainers including Mariachi Flor de Toloache, Queens’ all-female mariachi band. Among those who took part in the festivities were (left from left to right) David Aglialoro, director of communications for Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan; Sunnyside Shines BID Executive Director Rachel Thieme; City Council Majority Leader Jimmy Van Bramer; and Janet Hohenstein, the BID’s office manager. (photos: Marcin Zurawicz) Convicted Fast Food Joint Bandit Gets Century In Jail Shot Cabbie In Another Incident A North Carolina man has been sentenced to 110 years in state prison for a series of armed robberies that took place in Queens in 2010––including one in which a livery cab driver was shot multiple times. Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown identified the defendant as Shawn Peace, 26, of Copper Creek in Charlotte, North Carolina, and formerly of 118th Avenue in Jamaica, who has been held in jail in lieu of bail since his arrest in January 2011. He was convicted of second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault, first-degree robbery and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon in February 2014 following a three-week jury trial before Queens County Supreme Court Justice Gregory L. Lasak, who imposed last Thursday, May 22, the determinate sentence of 110 years in prison. Brown said, “Having committed a series of violent felonies— including the attempted murder of a livery cab driver and the shooting of a fast food restaurant employee— during a string of armed robberies, the defendant has proven himself to be a menace to society. With today’s sentence, the public can rest assured that the defendant will no longer be a threat as he will be spending the rest of his life behind bars.” According to trial testimony pertaining to the Dec. 3, 2010, robbery, a livery cab driver employed by Big D’s Royal Cab Service, located on Merrick Boulevard in Jamaica, Queens, picked up Peace as a fare when he walked up to the cab service’s office at approximately 8:50 p.m. and requested to be taken to 117-60 122nd Street––an address located on a dead-end street in South Ozone Park. Once at the location, a struggle ensued between the two men as they sat in the front seat of the cab, during which Peace shot the driver multiple times in his neck and limbs before fleeing. Shortly thereafter, police responded to a 911 call on the corner of 122nd Street and Sutter Avenue and found the driver slumped in the front driver’s seat of the cab with four gunshot wounds––one to the right hand, one to the neck, one to each leg. The victim was taken to a local Queens hospital for treatment of his wounds. To this day, he still suffers from the effects of two strokes that occurred when the bullet was removed from his neck/head. The other five robberies in which Peace was tried and convicted included: -SEE ROBBER ON PG. 54- Traveling Back In Time At Forest Hills School’s Centennial Students and faculty at P.S. 101 in Forest Hills Gardens turned back the clock to the 1910s to celebrate the school’s centennial last Tuesday, May 20. Youngsters enjoyed a variety of activities popular among their peers when the school opened 100 years ago last Tuesday, including dancing around the maypole (as shown in right photo). Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña stopped by to offer best wishes to “The School in the Gardens.” The chancellor is pictured with students, teachers and Principal Monique Paniagua; as pictured, some of the attendees dressed in period costumes for the occasion. (left photo: Vyacheslav Li; right photo: Marcin Zurawicz
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