Man fatally stabbed at family homeless shelter in Queens

Friday, November 8, 2019
Man fatally stabbed at family shelter in Queens
Derick Waller reports ont he stabbing from East Elmhurst.

EAST ELMHURST, Queens (WABC) -- A man was fatally stabbed during an argument outside a family shelter in Queens Tuesday night.

It happened at the Landing Family Shelter on Ditmars Boulevard next to LaGuardia Airport in East Elmhurst.

The building is called the Landing Hotel, but it is actually a homeless shelter for families.

Investigators arrived at the scene shortly before 10 p.m. to find a 38-year-old man unconscious and unresponsive outside the shelter with a stab wound to his torso.

The victim, Abdul Silas, was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead.

Police say he lived at the shelter for about a year.

Back in 2015, some neighbors complained that the city converted the hotel to a shelter without enough notice or input.

UPDATE: Police announced the arrest of 34-year-old Ricardo Henry in connection with this case. They say Henry was evicted from the homeless shelter last month and stabbed Silas as part of an ongoing dispute.

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