Thursday, July 15, 2004

From the past:  Another condo rage killing
The tragedy in Franklin Park was not the first condo rage killing.  Back in 1991, a man in Queens did something similar.  This is pre-internet, so there's nothing to link to, but here's the text courtesy of Lexis/Nexis:
 

The New York Times, May 16, 1991
SECTION: Section B; Page 3; Column 5; Metropolitan Desk
 
BYLINE: By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.BODY:Mehmet Lijkovic was under a lot of pressure.He had been working seven days a week as a building porter on the Upper East Side of Manhattan to make up some of the money he lost in the strike that had left him without a paycheck for two weeks. At his home in Queens, neighbors were complaining that his children were too noisy. The condominium board was threatening legal action.On Tuesday night, the police said, Mr. Lijkovic finally broke. He went to the apartment of the board member he thought was behind the complaints about his children, the police said, and shot the 40-year-old furrier dead in front of the man's wife.The police gave the following account of how Mr. Lijkovic, 40, ended up charged with murder:When Mr. Lijkovic arrived home at Village Park Gardens at 64-17 72d Street in the middle-class neighborhood of Middle Village shortly before 7:30 P.M., he found a letter from the board that said he would "be held liable" for the noise being caused by his two children. Some residents also complained that the children had been unruly in the building and about graffiti linked to them. Shot 8 TimesMr. Lijkovic stormed upstairs to confront Warner Vanderhooft, the board member he thought was behind the letter. He took a 9-millimeter pistol with him. At first the two men began shoving each other in the hallway, each accusing the other of making trouble, said Sgt. George Zaroogian of the 104th Precinct detective squad.Mr. Lijkovic pulled the gun from his waistband, and, in a fury, shot the taller, stronger man eight times, killing him instantly, according to the police.Yesterday, neighbors in the five-year-old three-story apartment building and along the quiet residential street were trying to fathom how such a killing could have happened.Mr. Vanderhooft, who owned TNW Furs, at 307 Seventh Avenue, near 27th Street, in Manhattan, lived with his wife, Margaret Bussfeld, in Apartment 3A. The police said he had apparently complained several times in the past about noise the children were making.Mr. Lijkovic, who was raised in Yugoslavia, came to America about 20 years and worked for a long time as cook at a restaurant in New Jersey before taking a job as a porter seven years ago, friends and relatives said.Five years ago, he and his wife, Serveta, bought a two-bedroom apartment, one of 12 apartments in Village Park Gardens, for $170,000 when it was under construction. The couple have a daughter, 12, and a son, 11.Mr. Lijkovic was described by relatives and friends as a quiet, gentle person whom they would not expect to get into a fight. One relative, who did not want to be identified, said: "He was a good person staying out of trouble. I have known him for over 17 years and I was shocked when I came home from work and heard he had done this." She added, "It's unbelievable."Kola Cacaj, the superintendent of the apartment building at 340 East 74th Street in Manhattan, where Mr. Lijkovic was a porter for seven years, also described him as someone who kept to himself and rarely spoke. But Mr. Cacaj observed, "He had a hot temper."Mr. Cacaj said the suspect had been working seven days a week over the last two weeks since the building workers' strike ended. He described the porter as "very nervous from working too much" and angry that the building's owner had not hired another porter to help him. As a result, Mr. Lijkovic was threatening to quit, he said.Mr. Cacaj said that Mr. Lijkovic claimed to have a pistol permit and was very proud of it and that he often went to shoot at a pistol range. 'To Pay Him Back'Mr. Cacaj, who, like Mr. Lijkovic, is of Albanian descent, said that in Albania, "soon as a boy hits 14, you buy him a gun and tell him to protect himself -- when someone attacks you or hits you, you're supposed to pay him back."The police were unable to determine yesterday whether the handgun used in the killing was licensed. Mr. Lijkovic was arrested outside the building shortly after the shooting with the pistol in his hand.Some residents of the building said Mr. Lijkovic's two children had repeatedly caused problems, writing on people's doors, ringing doorbells and allowing other children into the building.But other residents said the children's behavior was not out of the ordinary for children of that age.Anthony Sorisi, who moved out of the building in February after living there for three years, said: "It was just kid stuff. The kids were just playing. Every once in a while they'd let other kids into the building. Nothing to shoot somebody over, you know what I mean?"

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