FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.couriersun.com FEBRUARY 28, 2013 • THE COURIER SUN 3 ‘American Idol’ Season 12: QUEENS NATIVE IMPRESSES Carey with her singing skills, but the other judges too, including fellow Queens native Nicki Minaj, and was unanimously voted through to Hollywood week. After surviving the voting round in California, Torres went to Las Vegas with 19 other female and 20 other male contestants to compete in a “sudden death round,” where over two weeks, the singers are narrowed down to fi ve women and fi ve men. Once she made the top 40, Torres was able to “redeem herself,” as she put it an interview video on Idol’s website, after she only made it to the top 60 during season 11. Torres was able to take her redemption one step further last week when she was chosen to advance to the top 20. Once again impressing the judges, she sang Natasha Bedingfi eld’s “Soulmate.” “Something about your tone reminds me of the 1980s R&B singers, said Minaj. “There’s no tone like that right now in the business.” Agreeing with Minaj, Carey gave her another stellar critique, causing Torres to tear up a little when her idol said to her: “You were just naturally giving a beautiful, pure performance.” Family of slain Guardsman to fi le suit BY ANGY ALTAMIRANO aaltamirano@queenscourier.com Cecilia Reyes announced a $20 million notice of claim to fi le a lawsuit against the city, the NYPD and the offi cer who fatally shot her son, Noel Polanco. On February 14, a Queens grand jury determined no criminal charges would be fi led against Hassan Hamdy, the NYPD offi cer who shot the 22-year-old National Guardsman in October during a traffi c stop on the Grand Central Parkway. “I want him without a job,” Reyes told NY1. “I’m calling on the commissioner. I want this cop off the street. I don’t want to see him hurt anyone else.” “The family feels they did not get justice in the state system of criminal justice,” said Sanford Rubenstein, the lawyer for Polanco’s family. Along with the lawsuit, the family has requested that the U.S. Attorney’s offi ce begin a criminal investigation based on federal civil rights violations. “She Reyes wants this police offi cer to be held accountable and she doesn’t want another family to go through what her family is going through,” said Rubenstein. Victim dead before blaze BY MAGGIE HAYES mhayes@queenscourier.com After extinguishing a two-alarm blaze in South Richmond Hill, fi refi ghters made a grisly discovery: the man inside the second-story apartment had been bound and shot in the head. On Sunday, February 24 at approximately 2:35 a.m., police responded to a 9-1-1 call of a fi re inside an apartment above a bodega on 95th Avenue. Once the fi re was put out, offi cers discovered the victim, a 43-year-old Asian man, unconscious and unresponsive with severe burns. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The fi re has been deemed “suspicious” by the FDNY and NYPD, and various media reports say the victim was found tied by his hands and feet, and was shot. Neighbors say that the scene was scary and chaotic. “I had my window cracked a little bit, I woke up and my room was fi lled with smoke,” said Pavneet Kaur who lives just a few doors down from the scene of the crime. “There was so much smoke, the entire street was fi lled. You couldn’t see anything.” Kaur said that people were out on the streets, screaming for all of their neighbors to wake up and get outside. “We were sleeping, and we heard someone shouting, so we came outside,” said Nerinden Kaur. “If it was windy, the fi re could have spread to another house. Right now we all feel scared.” Although those who live in the neighborhood do not know much about the victim, they are surprised that this incident could happen on their quiet block. “This is a nice neighborhood,” said one resident who did not wish to give his name. “There are two churches right around the block. This is very strange news.” On Monday, the day after the fi re, a cleaning crew was on the scene, removing debris and securing the area. The investigation is ongoing. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. But for one Queens singer, what happens in Vegas may catapult her onto the national music scene. Tenna Torres, 28, from Jamaica, is an “American Idol” semifi nalist for Season 12. A graduate at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, the school that inspired the movie “Fame,” Torres has been working as a promotional model. The pop singer and songwriter hopes that her “Idol” appearances will lead to a record contract. One dream, however, already came true for Torres when she auditioned for her musical idol, Mariah Carey, one of this season’s judges. “I’ve been listening to Carey since I was fi ve years old,” she said in her pre-audition introduction. She even went to Camp Mariah and sang for her when she was 13, which Carey instantly remembered as she looked through Torres’ pictures. Belting out “You’ve Got A Friend” by Carole King, Torres not only impressed A two-alarm blaze in South Richmond Hill revealed a man reportedly bound, shot and burned to death. BY ADJANI SHAH AND CRISTABELLE TUMOLA ctumola@queenscourier.com THE COURIER/Photo by Maggie Hayes Photos: Michael Becker / FOX. Copyright / FOX com
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