Arrest made in caught-on-video slay of man beaten with board by gang outside Queens gas station
An arrest has been made in the slaying of a 23-year-old man beaten with a board by a group of men outside a Queens gas station in a crazed caught-on-video attack, police said Wednesday.
Michael Santander, 20, was charged Tuesday with murder for the Nov. 13 slaying of Esvin Vasquez.
The victim, the father of a 1-year-old son, was confronted by a large group outside a BP gas station on Junction Blvd. near 44th Ave. in Corona about 2:05 a.m., video obtained by the Daily News shows.
The men surrounded the victim, kicking and stomping him in the middle of the street.
One of the men hit Vasquez in the head with the board.
Medics rushed Vasquez, who suffered a severe head wound, to Elmhurst Hospital Center, where he died.
“My brother was only here in New York for short while,” the victim’s devastated sibling Brian Vasquez, 32, told the Daily News. ”He wanted to save enough money to build a house back in Guatemala for his son, Sammy, and his wife, Sofia.”
“When I spoke to his wife, she was in shock,” he added. “She couldn’t even speak.”
The brothers, who lived together around the corner from the gas station, worked in a furniture store.
“He was all I had,” Brian Vasquez said. “He didn’t have many friends and he was not violent or aggressive.”
It was not immediately clear how police identified Santander. Others involved are still being sought.
Police said the murder is connected to a gang, Sombra Negra, though further details were not immediately available.
“I don’t know why or who would do this to him,” Brian Vasquez said. “He was very calm and didn’t want to hurt anyone. I don’t know why this happened.”
