8 THE QUEENS COURIER • JUNE 14, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Jackson Hts. rallies against recent bias crimes
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com/@jenna_bagcal
LGBTQ activists and supporters sought
justice for Brandon Soriano and Roxsana
Hernandez, just three days aft er Soriano
was attacked outside of a Taco Bell in
Jackson Heights.
On June 6, members and allies of the
LGBTQ community gathered on the steps
of the Jackson Heights Post Offi ce at 78-02
37th Ave. Th e press conference was organized
by local activist Daniel Puerto, in
partnership with candidate for state Senate
Jessica Ramos, Th e Justice Committee,
Colectiveo Intercultural Transgrediendo,
DRUM Desis Rising Up & Moving and
Make the Road NY and other local activists.
Puerto organized the event to show
the community’s solidarity for Soriano,
a 25-year-old gay man who was the victim
of a possible hate crime. Hours aft er
the Queens Pride Parade on June 3, two
unidentifi ed men followed Soriano and
proceeded to hurl anti-gay slurs at him,
before punching him multiple times and
knocking him to the ground.
Th e event was also in combination
with “National Day of Action: Justice
for Roxsana” for Roxsana Hernandez, a
transgender woman who died while being
detained by ICE. A native of Honduras,
according to a Facebook page for the
nationwide event in Atlanta, Hernandez
allegedly did not receive adequate health
care and succumbed to illness.
Ramos, a Jackson Heights native, said
that it was “infuriating” to see injustices
happening and stressed the importance of
educating people at all levels about the history
and importance of the LGBTQ community.
She added that fi nding similarities
between oneself and people who have
gone through diff erence experiences is
crucial in this pursuit.
Several activists who spoke at the event
said that increased law enforcement was
not the solution to prevent these crimes
from happening. Yul-san Liem, a social
justice artist and organizer who works
with the Justice Committee, charged that
the NYPD and ICE are “not making us
safer” and are in fact some of the biggest
threats to LGBTQ people, especially those
who are of color.
Following the press conference, attendees
participated in a march from 78th
Street to 83rd Street in front of the Taco
Bell where Soriano was attacked. As the
activists marched, they chanted in both
English and Spanish.
“Que queremos? Justicia. Cuando?
Ahora!” which translates as “What do we
want? Justice. When? Now!”
Photo by Jenna Bagcal/QNS
LGBTQ activists and allies march for Brandon Soriano and Roxsana Hernandez.
Cocaine, marijuana & big guns recovered in F.H. raid
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com / @robbpoz
Narcotics detectives found stashes of
cocaine and marijuana — along with
a small arsenal of weapons — inside a
Forest Hills home during a police raid on
Saturday morning.
Th e NYPD Narcotics Borough Queens
North came calling at 6 a.m. on June 9 to
52-year-old George Mirzayans’ Th ornton
Place home. Th ey executed a search warrant
obtained as a result of an investigation.
Officers entered the home and
observed Mirzayans running down a
fl ight of stairs toward the basement; they
apprehended him without further incident.
According to the criminal complaint
that the Queens District Attorney’s
offi ce provided, Mirzayans asked law
enforcement agents why they were there.
Police soon answered his question when
they looked inside his den and found it
packed with cocaine and marijuana left
out in the open.
Law enforcement agents seized two
heat-sealed packs of cocaine left on the
fl oor near a shelving unit, and several ziploc
bags of the white powder on the shelving
unit itself. Th ey also recovered a white
scale that contained cocaine, along with
36 plastic bags of marijuana weighing in
excess of 10 pounds and 19 cartridges of
tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a concentrated
form of marijuana’s psychoactive
Members of NYPD Narcotics Borough Queens stand before some of the guns and drugs seized in
a June 9 raid.
property.
As the search continued, detectives
found numerous fi rearms and ammunition
in the living room, in the basement
and even concealed in a hole in the wall
inside of a closet. Th e fi rearms seized
included a .44-caliber lever action rifl e;
a .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol; a
.25-caliber semiautomatic pistol; a Ruger
old army cap and ball revolver; a .38-caliber
semiautomatic pistol; a .22-caliber
semiautomatic rifl e; and a .30-caliber
lever action rifl e.
Photo via Twitter/@NYPD112Pct
Police also recovered more than $4,700
in cash left on top of a computer desk
inside the basement.
Mirzayans was taken into custody on
multiple counts of criminal possession
of a controlled substance, criminal possession
of a weapon, criminal possession
of marijuana, criminally using drug paraphernalia
and unlawful possession of
fi rearms.
Court records noted that Mirzayans
was ordered held on $100,000 bail and
to return to court on June 25.
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