A 48-year-old man was stabbed to death early Friday following an argument outside a Colombian restaurant on Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights, and police have arrested a 38-year-old suspect in connection with the killing. The victim, identified as Angel Marcelo Escalante Gamazo, lived just steps away from where he was attacked.
According to New York Daily News, Escalante Gamazo got into an argument with his attacker outside Los Arrieros restaurant near Roosevelt Avenue and 76th Street around 4 a.m. He was stabbed during the confrontation, and medics rushed him to Elmhurst Hospital, where he later died.
Police said Escalante Gamazo resided on Roosevelt Avenue near the site of the killing, meaning the fatal encounter took place practically on his doorstep. Officers arrested Jose L. Rodriguez Balda, 38, of Flushing, for the killing. Investigators said Rodriguez Balda had no prior arrests in New York.
Charges Carry Steep Mandatory Prison Time
Rodriguez Balda has been charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon. Second-degree murder under New York Penal Law § 125.25 is a Class A-I felony carrying a mandatory minimum sentence ranging from 15 years to life in prison upon conviction, according to Konta Georges & Buza P.C. The weapons charge, criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree under Penal Law § 265.03, is a Class C violent felony that on its own carries a mandatory minimum of 3.5 years in state prison, per the Law Offices of Andrew M. Stengel.
Escalante Gamazo was pronounced dead at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst, a facility verified by the American College of Surgeons as a Level 1 Trauma Center. The hospital's dedicated 12-bed Surgical Trauma Intensive Care Unit handles more than 1,500 trauma admissions annually, according to background from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Second Early-Morning Stabbing on the Same Block in a Week
Friday's killing was not an isolated incident on that stretch of Roosevelt Avenue. Just one week earlier, a 49-year-old man was critically stabbed at 4 a.m. outside Club Evolution near 77th Street, roughly a block from where Escalante Gamazo was attacked, as reported by the Queens Gazette. The near-identical timing and location of the two attacks underscore how dangerous the predawn hours have become along this commercial corridor.
The stretch of Roosevelt Avenue running through Jackson Heights, Elmhurst, and Corona has been the target of sustained city intervention. In October 2024, New York City launched Operation Restore Roosevelt, a multi-agency effort coordinating more than a dozen municipal departments to combat street crime, unlicensed businesses, and quality-of-life offenses along the corridor, according to NYC.gov. City officials reported in June 2025 that the initiative had generated 2,501 arrests and 27,821 summonses over eight months, contributing to a 28% drop in overall crime and a 28% decrease in felony assaults along the avenue.
Long-Term Trend Tells a Different Story
Despite those short-term gains, longer-range data paints a starker picture. Felony assault complaints in the 115th Precinct, which patrols Jackson Heights and Roosevelt Avenue, climbed 71.7% between 2001 and 2025, even as shooting incidents have recently declined, per Hoodline's earlier reporting on a Corona shooting.
Federal authorities have also targeted organized violence along the strip. Prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York secured convictions in March 2026 against key members of the transnational 18th Street Gang, which officials said had operated violently along the Roosevelt Avenue commercial corridor for years, as Hoodline detailed in its report on the case.
Community frustration over safety on the corridor has been building. Just weeks before Escalante Gamazo's death, local activists and community leaders held a public rally near 76th Street on Roosevelt Avenue, demanding stronger police enforcement and nuisance-abatement action along the same commercial strip where the fatal stabbing later occurred.
