Saturday, May 10, 1997
Terrified Queens residents and bystanders dived for cover when a gang of masked gunmen shattered the quiet of a Flushing neighborhood with a Wild West-style shootout.
Suzanne Jenson, who lives in an apartment near the shooting scene at Station Road and 168th St., cowered with her 9-month-old grandson as the bullets flew.
“I went down on the floor and threw myself over my grandson,” Jenson said. “It was pretty frightening. The house was vibrating.”
At one point, the 49-year-old Queens woman crawled to her window and looked out.
“I saw a guy behind a black car. He was yelling, ‘Stay down, stay down!’ ” Jenson said. “It was like putting 20 people around my house and hitting it with sledgehammers.
“You live in your house, you think it’s safe. Now I feel like I live in a war zone.”
Abraham Notak saw two men run out of Positive Promotions, a printing firm on 168th St. The gunfire erupted, and he dived behind a car.
“I saw two guys wearing masks, and they were shooting someone who was on the ground,” Notak said. “I saw one victim fall to the ground. It looked to me like he was trying to save himself. The two guys wearing masks kept shooting at him.”
The shooting was so alarming that a 16-year-old home from school for the day said he “felt like I was watching a movie.”
“They were firing everywhere. They fired straight. They fired down. I don’t think they knew what they were firing at,” the teen said.
As shocked bystanders watched, the gunmen jumped into a stolen van and tore off in the wrong direction on Station Road, a one-way street.
“As soon as they hopped in it, it sounded like they yelled, ‘Go! Go!’ They made a complete U-turn, smacking into every single car,” the teen said.
Seconds later, dozens of cops in riot gear closed in on the shooting scene, while others on foot, in cars and in helicopters searched for the gunmen.
Original Story Date: 051097
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