A 65-year-old man who was the victim of an attempted early morning mugging in Queens is now facing charges after he allegedly shot his attacker to death.
The ordeal started overnight in Kew Gardens, when a man shattered the front door of an apartment building on 82nd Avenue near Queens Boulevard. A mother described the noise that alarmed her as she was getting ready for work early in the morning.
"I don’t know if it was a man or a woman. But there was somebody there banging, banging. I couldn’t see clearly enough," said the woman who did not wish to be identified.
Witnesses said the man, identified by police as Cody Gonzalez, also damaged a call box in a building's foyer across the street. The door for that building was left in pieces, with the noise from the incident waking up tenants who lived there.
Police said that just minutes later, around 2 a.m., is when the deadly encounter occurred in a driveway by the building’s parking garage. Gonzalez allegedly tried to mug Charles Foehner as he was walking back home.
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Foehner said the man threatened him with a sharp object, so he responded by pulling out a gun he was carrying. Police told NBC New York that what Foehner thought was a weapon turned out to be a pen.
One person who lives nearby said they heard three gunshots. Gonzalez was shot and later died from his injuries, according to police.
Queens District Melinda Katz charged Foehner with criminal possession of a weapon and a firearm. Investigators revealed he had a license for a shotgun and a rifle, but not for his pistol, and he did not have a concealed carry permit. Police said Foehner has no criminal history.
