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Queens DA staffer threatened to blow up Elmhurst migrant shelter, complaint says
By
Giulia Heyward
Published Sep 28, 2024
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Christian Santana / Gothamist
By
Giulia Heyward
Published Sep 28, 2024
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A man who was recently employed by the Queens district attorney’s office pleaded not guilty this week to charges that he threatened to blow up a migrant shelter across the street from his apartment in Elmhurst using homemade explosives and possibly a drone, according to a complaint filed in Queens Criminal Court.
Police entered the man’s apartment at around 9 p.m. last Tuesday with his fiancée’s consent and removed a loaded BB gun from what appeared to be a child’s bedroom and fireworks from a closet outside of a larger bedroom, the complaint states.
Hours later, at around 1 a.m. on Wednesday, police returned with a search warrant and removed a vase containing “a black substance … and long nail cartridges wrapped in tin foil” from the larger bedroom, as well as green wire from a storage bin, according to the complaint. Police believed the black substance was material from a disassembled firework that could be combined with the nail cartridges and wire “to create an explosive or incendiary bomb.”
The man — identified by authorities as 27-year-old Derek Klever — days earlier had allegedly expressed a desire to use firework components and other materials to attack the Kamway Lodge, which is currently housing migrants. Klever made xenophobic comments and complained about shelter residents making noise early in the morning, the complaint states.
“I’m going to f–ing blow them up, bro,” he allegedly told an unnamed witness late on the night of Sept. 21 at 125-01 Queens Blvd., where Queens Criminal Court and the DA’s office are housed.
“I know I shouldn’t be doing this, but it’s for Queens County,” Klever said, according to the complaint. “This is a war. I wish I had a big enough one to blast them back to Venezuela. … I was trying to see if I could rent a heavy-duty drone and fly it over and drop it.”
Klever had worked as a paralegal in the Queens DA’s office since February 2023, according to his LinkedIn page. A spokesperson for the office said he was arraigned on Thursday and fired from his role, adding that the investigation remains ongoing.
Court records show Klever pleaded not guilty on Thursday to several charges, including criminal possession of a weapon, making a terroristic threat and endangering the welfare of a child. The judge set bail at $50,000 and bond at $150,000.
Klever is due back in court on Friday. His attorney, Dennis Lemke, declined to comment.
Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the nonprofit New York Immigration Coalition, said he was “disgusted” by the allegations against Klever.
“This deplorable situation should serve as a lesson to Mayor Adams and all public officials that anti-immigrant rhetoric can incite anti-immigrant violence — violence that threatens the safety of all New Yorkers,” said Awawdeh.
The city was housing nearly 62,000 migrants in more than 200 shelters as of mid-September, according to the comptroller’s office. Roughly 215,000 migrants have come into the city’s care since spring 2022, when an influx of new arrivals started.
Tagged
immigration
new york city
Asylum Seekers
public safety
queens
elmhurst
Giulia Heyward
Giulia Heyward is a breaking news reporter on the Day-Of desk. She previously worked at NPR, as a breaking news reporter, and the New York Times, as a reporting fellow on the national desk. Her work has also appeared in CNN, The Atlantic and Politico. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or more securely on signal at 917-715-1458.
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