Aspiring Bronx actor beat his wife with a hammer before death plunge: police
An aspiring actor was a real-life killer who beat his wife with a hammer before tossing her from a sixth-story Bronx window — and then jumping to his death, police sources said.
Mother of two Ornela Shehi, 28, died from blunt force trauma in the brutal August homicide/suicide, where one of the kids was heard wailing “Mom! Mom!” by neighbors in the Morris Park building.
Her husband, Florind Belliu, 35, then leapt to his death right behind her, cops said. The Medical Examiner’s office said Shehi’s fatal injuries occurred prior to going out the window on the morning of Aug. 6, with police citing a lovers’ quarrel prior to the deaths.
Neighbors told the Daily News they heard shouting from the apartment before the deadly plunges on Cruger Ave. and Pelham Parkway, with the two bodies discovered in the rear of the building.
Belliu, described by neighbors as anti-social, appeared in a single Albanian movie titled “6 Shorts Films 2009,” with an Albanian website reporting he was also working on a book that he hoped to turn into a screenplay for Netflix.
“When you would walk next to him, he just didn’t really have a friendly demeanor,” recalled building resident Robert Sanchez in August. “So I would just keep moving. They kept to themselves and were very isolated.”
The couple’s two sons were unable to provide any clue as to what ignited the final and fatal encounter. A neighbor recalled one of the little boys looking sad when police arrived at the scene around 9:15 a.m.
An employee at Zymi, a nearby café that’s popular with the Albanian community, also described Belliu as a loner.
“He was never in the right state of mind. He would come have a coffee or eat and would not interact with the fellow members of the community,” the worker said. “The wife never really said anything. She was always quiet and isolated but they always seemed to have the kids (with them).”
The couple’s deaths were mourned on social media in posts written in Albanian, with a pair of actors from the husband’s homeland sharing their grief.
“Why bro, why?” wrote Andi Llabuti on Facebook. “Why didn’t you think a little about your family, your mother and your sisters? we all knew your abilities and the values you had ... You made us so sad that there is no explanation.”
Comedian/actor Cela Irgen was equally rattled by the shocking death of his friend and his wife.
“May you both rest in peace, my dear friend and may God give strength to both families in these difficult times,” Irgen said on Instagram.
