8 THE QUEENS COURIER • AUGUST 2, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Custody battle triggered Astoria murder-suicide: cops
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com
@robbpoz
A 39-year-old man shot and killed his
ex-wife, current wife and 6-year-old son
before turning the gun on himself in
Astoria on Monday night as the result of
an apparent custody dispute, detectives
announced on Tuesday.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea
said at a July 31 press conference that James
Shields, 39, pulled the trigger on the two
women and his son inside of a fi rst-fl oor
apartment on 23rd Street near 30th Drive,
then took his own life.
During the investigation that followed,
Shea said, police learned that Shields had
been in a custody battle with his ex-wife,
47-year-old Linda Olthof, over their child,
Giacomo James Shields. A dispute inside
the apartment on the night of July 30 led to
the gruesome violence.
According to Shea, detectives recovered
two Glock fi rearms as well as seven fully
loaded magazines in James Shields’ possession.
“What those additional rounds were
meant for may never be known,” he said.
Offi cers from the 114th Precinct and
other NYPD units rushed to the home just
aft er 8:30 p.m. on July 30 aft er shots were
reported in the area of 30th Drive and 23rd
Street.
Once inside that location, Shea said,
the offi cers found four individuals, each
of whom sustained gunshot wounds.
Paramedics were called to the scene, and all
four were pronounced dead.
Police did not disclose the identity of
Shields’ wife, as they were still attempting
to notify her family.
Th e New York Times reported that
responding offi cers found a man dead in
the backyard of the home, with a slashed
throat and a gunshot wound.
“We believe we have one tentative ID
on one of the deceased, which I will not be
releasing at this time, and the other individuals
for a total of one male adult, we have
two female adults that are both deceased,
and we have one child that is approximately
5 years of age, deceased,” Shea said at a
July 30 press conference at the scene.
Th e incident prompted a massive police
response to the location, with offi cers
swarming the immediate area to secure
it and guard against any possible active
shooters.
Citing sources, NY1 reported that detectives
believe the male victim, who lived
at the building, shot the two women and
child before taking his own life. Police have
recovered a gun located at the crime scene.
Photos by Mari Estrella/RHS News
Detectives stand in front of an Astoria home where four people were fatally shot in a suspected murder-suicide on July 30.
Plans for 74-story tower push LIC further into the sky
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com/ @jenna_bagcal
Th ings are looking up — and going up
— in Long Island City.
A 74-story tower is the latest addition
to the long list of skyscrapers and
other new developments coming to the
ever-growing neighborhood.
According to New York YIMBY, the
newest planned skyscraper at 42-50 24th
St. and has a “speculative minimum
height” of 750 feet. If developers are
allowed to build higher, the tower may
even rival the proposed 67-story, 752-
foot building at 23-14 44th Dr., that was
announced earlier this month.
Previously, the record for the tallest
tower in the borough was held by
One Court Square, also known as the
Citigroup Building, in LIC. Th e 658-foot
tower was fi nished in 1990 and boasts
50 fl oors.
In 2015 Dynamic Star LLC and
Property Markets Group (PMG) bought
42-50 24th St. for $69 million. According
to the New York City Department of
Buildings, permits for the project have
not yet been fi led. According to their
website, PMG is also currently constructing
a 45-story, 391-unit tower at
23-10 Queens Plaza South in Long Island
City.
Perkins Eastman is set as the project’s
designer, and has planned for the building’s
exterior to be made with curtain
wall glass and narrow window frames.
YIMBY said that the project is slated
to be a least 1 million square feet when
complete, with the mixed-use space designated
for residential and retail purposes.
Rendering by Dynamic Star LLC
42-50 24th St.
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