Latest news with #Corniell
Yahoo
23-03-2025
- Yahoo
Family of boy stabbed at Queens McDonald's says attackers' young age no excuse
The shattered family of a 14-year-old boy stabbed to death at a Queens McDonald's says the youthful age of his accused attackers is no excuse for the brutal crime. Police have so far arrested two boys, ages 14 and 16, in connection with Julian Corniell's Valentine's Day killing. The older of the two suspects, who was arrested Thursday, faces murder charges. 'I feel like being 16 is sometimes a cop-out. Being young is a cop-out,' said the victim's aunt, Sheila Corniell, 40. 'We can say that boys will be boys til we're blue in the face, but doesn't that mean fists? That doesn't mean weapons.' Julian began high school in Long Island City last year but after enduring severe bullying and an assault by a group of youngsters that put him in the hospital he transferred to Hillcrest High School in Jamaica in November, the boy's mom previously told the News. 'What are we doing with our children where our children aren't safe in the street, our children aren't safe at McDonald's, our children aren't safe at school, our children aren't safe on the subway?' the aunt said Saturday. 'So where are we safe?' On Feb. 14, Julian once again ran afoul of a large group of teens looking to hurt him. He showed up at the McDonalds near 38th St. and Queens Blvd. in Sunnyside with three friends in tow, his aunt recounted, and came across a larger group wearing ski masks and surgical masks. 'Sunnyside is not a dangerous neighborhood. Sunnyside is not a place where you would expect you need to watch your back at 3pm in the afternoon while the sun is out. On Valentine's Day,' Corniell said. 'I would understand Halloween but on a Friday on Valentine's Day?' Julian was chased out of the McDonald's and across the street, where he was attacked by the mob of teens. 'Within minutes of the fight breaking out, this kid stabs Julian,' Corniell said. 'Once Julian is injured he runs out of the McDonald's and they run after him.' As he lay dying, a friend and former classmate held Julian's hand and applied pressure to his wound. Medics rushed Julian to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell in Manhattan but he could not be saved. Cops arrested the 14-year-old boy at the scene and charged him with gang assault. Julian's murder echoed another slaying in Sunnyside last year, when police say a 15-year-old girl stabbed 17-year-old Sara Rivera to death near the Queens Blvd. entrance to the 46th-Bliss Street subway station. The teen victim knew Julian's family. 'He was sad about it but at the same time he understood that there wasn't much that he could do being that he was much younger,' Nahomi Varona, 28, another of Julian's aunts, said. Corniell added, 'A year later, dealing with the exact same thing only like a train stop away from when she was hurt?…. What is happening? Why is our city in this state? And it's all senseless. It's all over nothing.' Julian's family made a point of attending the 16-year-old suspect's court arraignment on Thursday and listening to an assistant district attorney describe the crime. 'Every detail was like a punch to the gut,' Varona said. The teen suspect seemed stoic and emotionless to Julian' family, who had never seen him before. 'We don't know who he is. We've never seen him in our lives. He's never crossed paths with us,' Sheila Corniell said. 'It was a very big surprise to us just to see the sheer size of him. Our nephew Julian was a very small frame. He's petite. He was like 5-foot-3, 120 pounds. Julian is 14 but he was a very little 14.' The NYPD continues to investigate the senseless slaying. Julian's mother, Julia Verona, said the family is 'putting all our trust and faith in the NYPD to get to the bottom of what happened that day.' 'We are very grateful at the fact that this hasn't been something that they've disregarded,' she said. 'We're very grateful this has continued to be investigated and that they're continuing to look into it. Because this wasn't okay and we don't want any other family to deal with what we are dealing with.'
Yahoo
15-02-2025
- Yahoo
14-year-old arrested in fatal stabbing of ‘brilliant' teen at NYC McDonald's: Our family is ‘destroyed'
A 14-year-old has been arrested in the fatal stabbing of a young teen during a wild fight at a Queens McDonald's – which has left the victim's family 'destroyed,' according to his family and police. Julian Corniell died at Weill Cornell Medical Center from multiple stab wounds to the abdomen after the 3:30 p.m. knifing Friday at the fast-food joint near 38th Street and Queens Boulevard in Sunnyside, police said. 'I feel very destroyed. I don't know what to do. I am a single mother of four kids. Julian was my only boy. He was only 14,' his mother, Julia Verona, told The Post Saturday. 'All my kids are very destroyed with this news.' Verona, 36, called her son 'brilliant' and 'a very fun little boy,' who loved to play video games and soccer. He 'loved his family' and was 'doing good in school' as a freshman at Hillcrest High School – although he had a history of being bullied, which made him 'afraid of going out alone,' she said. 'Before Hillcrest, my son got attacked in middle school in Jackson Heights. Last year in January … he got attacked by ten kids and he went to the hospital,' Verona said. Now, the boy is dead after being stabbed during a fight that broke out among a large group of teenagers in the parking lot of the McDonald's, police said. The suspect, who has not been publicly identified, was charged with first-degree gang assault, cops said. Cops don't think Corniell and the baby-faced perp knew each other, but are still investigating their relationship, according to the NYPD. The motive and whether either the suspect or victim are gang affiliated also remain under investigation, police said. Verona insisted, 'my son is not a street kid' and usually came straight home from school to take care of his younger siblings. On the morning of his murder, Verona said Corniell asked her for money as he left home at around 8:30 a.m. to buy something for his 'little girlfriend' for Valentine's Day – but she received a call from Hillcrest later that afternoon informing her he never showed up to school. Shortly afterward, as Verona was preparing love-themed holiday baskets for her four children, she received the shocking news. 'I'm very sad that this happened to him in that way and I was not able to help it,' she said while choking back tears. Verona doesn't know who the perps could be – or why her son was in Sunnyside. 'I don't know how they look like, I don't know their names, I don't know where those kids are coming from. I don't know, because we live in Jamaica, which is very far from Sunnyside,' she said. 'I don't know how my son ended up over there.'
Yahoo
15-02-2025
- Yahoo
NYC teen arrested, accused of deadly stabbing in Queens group fight
Editor's note: The above video originally aired on Feb. 14. NEW YORK (PIX11) — Police have arrested and charged a 14-year-old in connection with the deadly stabbing of another 14-year-old during a group fight in Queens on Friday afternoon. The teen, whose name has not been released due to his age, faces charges of first-degree gang assault, authorities say. More: Latest News from Around the Tri-State He was taken into custody about two hours after a fight in Sunnyside, Queens on Friday afternoon, that led to the death of 14-year-old Julian Corniell. Corniell was stabbed in the abdomen outside a McDonald's around 3:30 p.m. and later died at a local hospital. More Local News Witnesses say a group of about fifteen to 20 kids came to the McDonald's and began fighting another group shortly after school was dismissed in the area. The fight spilled out into the street where a steak knife was recovered at the scene. Submit tips to police by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), visiting downloading the NYPD Crime Stoppers mobile app, or texting 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577. Spanish-speaking callers are asked to dial 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). Dominique Jack is a digital content producer from Brooklyn with more than five years of experience covering news. She joined PIX11 in 2024. More of her work can be found here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
