Queens News

By Christina Carrega

Three Far Rockaway teenagers are among the five people arrested in connection with the death of a 23-year-old man whose body was found in a Queens park earlier this month.

Police said Ian Michael Cruz’s body was found in Bayswater Point State Park on Dec. 16, with multiple gunshot wounds to the head. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Carlos Guerra, Yonathan Sanchez and Elmer Guttierez, as well as a 15-year-old boy and 13-year-old girl, were arrested on Dec. 22 and variously charged in Cruz’s death.

The group, which is linked to the gang MS-13, were busted on Dec. 19 inside a shared bedroom at a three-bedroom apartment on Nameoke Avenue in Far Rockaway, according to the criminal complaint.

A .22 caliber revolver that was recovered from the room matched the four bullets that were recovered from Cruz’s body, according to the court documents.

Based on video surveillance from the scene and admissions from the alleged shooters, the five were charged with Cruz’s murder.

Guerra, 18, Sanchez, 22, and the two juvenile offenders — whose names are being withheld — were charged with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon charges. If convicted, Guerra and Sanchez faces up to 25 years to life in prison.

Guttierez, 18, only faces a criminal weapons possession charges. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison.

If the teens are convicted, they face up to nine years to life in prison. It is unclear if their cases will be handled in Family Court, according a spokeswoman from the Queens District Attorney’s Office.