November 30, 2007
Search Newsday.com Web enhanced by Login or register Home Delivery Man, 72, fights off gang member, 21
Jorge Duque is brought into police headquarters after he was arrested for robbery of his uncle. (Photo by Howard Schnapp / November 28, 2007)
: Thinking the gun pointed at him was real -- and believing he might be shot -- 72-year-old Reinaldo Herrera said he somehow found the strength to overpower a 21-year-old gang member allegedly sent by his own nephew to rob him at his home Tuesday afternoon in Westbury.
The elderly man, interviewed Wednesday outside the Plainview supermarket where he works as a custodian, said he was shocked to learn his nephew had master-minded the failed robbery attempt.
He also said he would not forgive his nephew, Jorge Duque, 47, of Hicksville for his role.
"What am I going to forgive?" Herrera, a Colombian immigrant said. "Let him pay first if he did that to me."
Nassau County Police said Herrera had just taken a break from stringing Christmas lights outside his home when Santos Zelaya forced his way into the house brandishing a gun.
It turned out to be a BB gun, though at the time Herrera said he believed it was real.
Zelaya, whom police said is a member of the notorious Salvadoran gang MS-13, then pointed the gun at Herrera's head -- and demanded cash and jewelry. Herrera said Zelaya then told him: "Be quiet."
Third Squad commanding officer Det. Lt. Raymond Cote said Herrera said later he believed he was "going to die."
Instead, the 5-foot-6 Herrera, who is fit but of medium build, lunged at Zelaya, wrestled the gun from him and, after a struggle, chased him outside.
"I just take the gun," Herrera said. "I don't know how I get the power."
It turned out that two police officers on patrol in the neighborhood came upon the scene in time to see Zelaya running without a jacket, which had been lost in the scuffle. They placed him under arrest.
After an investigation, police learned Duque had allegedly been waiting nearby in a getaway car.
Zelaya, of 107 East Marie St., Hicksville, was charged with first-degree burglary, second-degree robbery, first-degree criminal use of a firearm and fourth-degree possession of a dangerous weapon.
Arrested later at his home at 116 Cortland Ave., Hicksville, Duque was charged with first-degree burglary and second-degree robbery.
Both men are to be arraigned Wednesday in First District Court in Hempstead. GOOD DEAL.
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