One dead, another seriously injured in Queens shooting

A quiet Queens neighborhood today was shaken by violence that left one man dead and a woman seriously wounded, police said.

Lemaria Rennalds, 30, was shot five times in the chest as he and a female companion left a soiree at a Union Turnpike restaurant in Glen Oaks shortly before 3 a.m., police said.

According to investigators, two men, one in a blue hooded sweatshirt, opened fire on the pair, unleashing a fusillade that left a nearby Jeep Cherokee riddled with bullets and broken glass.

"The first four or five shots sounded like deliberate single shots," said Thaddeus Garofalo, 51, who lives near the restaurant that hosted the party. "After that it sounded like automatic gunfire in quick bursts. It was a heavy smell of gunpowder."


Garofalo said he ran outside when he heard the shots. He said he saw about 30 people crowding the street, where Rennalds and the unidentified woman lay on the ground.

Garofalo said the woman was screaming pain.

The shooting stunned the neighborhood.

"I was sleeping, and I heard what sounded like firecrackers," said resident Maria Sarlo, 62. "Then my daughter called down and said, ‘Mom, those aren’t firecrackers. Those are gunshots.’"

Cops said the shooting victims knew each other but were unclear about their relationship.

No arrests were made, and police did not yet have a motive.