Another Teenager Indicted For Murder Charge Of Queens Mom: DA

ASTORIA, QUEENS — Another Queens teenager was indicted for attempted murder, and other charges, on Thursday, in connection to a shooting last month, where a stray bullet hit a mother-of-two in the head, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced.

On the evening of March 12, Gudelia Vallinas, a 37-year-old mother-of-two, was walking home on 48th Street at Broadway near the Woodside houses, when a stray bullet from suspected gang shooting fatally hit her in the head, Katz said.

When Benaiah Reid, 19, and Dajuan Williams, 19, opened fire near their homes at the Woodside Houses that night, they were allegedly aiming to shoot a rival gang member, who fired at least one shot in the same vicinity before Vallinas was gunned down, said the DA.

After the shooting, Reid allegedly fled to Florida, where he was apprehended on May 5. On Thursday he was indicted by a grand jury in Queens on charges of second degree murder, and two second degree weapons charges.

Williams was indicted for murder and weapons charges on April 20. On April 13, Alexander Acevedo, 25 — who Williams was allegedly shooting at — was also hit with a reckless endangerment and weapons charge.

District Attorney Katz called the shooting "another example of why we need to get illegal guns off our streets and why we need to hold accountable those who use them.”

In an April press conference, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced his Safe Summer NYC plan to address the uptick in gun violence across New York City, including expanding the treatment-focused Cure Violence program to the Woodside and Astoria Houses in Queens where these three young men live.

Williams and Reid are both expected to return to court on May 20 and each face up to 25-years-to-life in prison if convicted.

Acevedo was expected to return to court on April 29, and faced up to 15 years in prison if convicted, though the Queens DA did not immediately respond to Patch about what happened in his case.