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Queens Sniper Saw Red; One Victim Dies
By
Jen Chung
Published Aug 27, 2006
Modified Oct 28, 2010
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By
Jen Chung
Published Aug 27, 2006
Modified Oct 28, 2010
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The Queens sniper has been revealed to be Matthew Colletta, a Woodhaven bricklayer, with a history of mental illness and drug dealing, and one of the victims from his Friday shooting spree has died. He apparently was high on "a cocktail of vodka and cocaine" that made him think he was being followed by the Bloods. While it seems that Colletta was shooting at random, five of the seven cars were red. Six people were injured, and Todd Upton, a UPS driver, died from his injuries. And Colletta told police he thought the dog of Andrzej Leonik, who was simply walking in Maspeth, was injuring a mother and baby, so he tried to shoot at the dog, but hit Leonik instead. An ex-girlfriend told the Daily News that Colletta was a nice guy, but the News points out that he tried to strangle her last Sunday - and chased her with a hammer - requiring an emergency protection order. A friend told the NY Times that Colletta had been taking lithium for paranoid schizophrenia and his defense attorney said, "Mental capacity will play a significant role in his defense." Watch out for the Mayor and Police Commissioner to use this tragic case as an example of why gun control is important.
Both the Times and Post have charts of Colletta's shooting spree. And the Daily News has a feature on Upton; he was a UPS driver who had just dropped off his daughter at Marist College in Poughkeepsie. He and his wife were in their new red Toyota minivan, headed home to Long Island, when Colletta shot at the car.
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The Queens
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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