Teenager Indicted For Murder Of Queens Mom: DA

ASTORIA, QUEENS — A Queens teenager was indicted for attempted murder, and other charges, on Tuesday, in connection to a case last month when he shot at a suspected gang member and a stray bullet hit a mother-of-two in the head, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced.

On the evening of March 12, Dajuan Williams, 19, opened fire near the Woodside Houses at a suspected rival gang member, when a stray bullet hit Gudelia Vallinas — who was walking home on 48th Street at Broadway — in the head, Katz said.

Vallinas, a 37-year-old mother-of-two was found unconscious by the cops, and later died at the hospital, according to the DA.

Williams was charged with murder and weapons charges two weeks later.

On April 13, another young man from Queens, Alexander Acevedo, 25 — who Williams was allegedly shooting at — was also hit with a reckless endangerment and weapons charge.

Acevedo fired at least one shot in the same vicinity of the Woodside Houses before Vallinas was gunned down, said the DA.

“We have to continue to sound the alarm about the dangers of illegal firearms and the impact of gun violence on our families and our communities,” said DA Katz, adding “this cycle of violence must stop and we must work diligently to get guns off our streets.”

The news of this indictment comes after a daily press briefing from Mayor Bill de Blasio where he 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 two young men live.

At the press conference, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards spoke of a conversation he had with Vallinas’ family about “ensuring that the people closest to the pain are the individuals who know what the solutions are,” which is why he believes the expanded Cure Violence initiative in both housing developments is going to be “a game changer.”

“You add on top of that summer youth jobs, and more community based funding for other organizations, and you really do find a holistic culmination of things that are really going to make us move in a different direction come the summer,” he said of the Mayor’s Safe Summer NYC plan.

Williams is expected to return to court on May 20 and faces up to 25-years-to-life in prison if convicted. Acevedo is expected to return to court on April 29 and faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.