NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) -- The disturbed scooter rider accused of shooting people at random on the streets of Queens and Brooklyn over the weekend—killing one and wounding several more—reportedly believed Russians, Chinese and Europeans were after him.
Thomas Abreu, 25, is expected to be arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on Monday after being charged with one count of second-degree murder, four counts of second-degree attempted murder, two counts of first-degree assault and two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
"The streets of two boroughs were turned into scenes of terror as this defendant allegedly rode his scooter, shooting indiscriminately at pedestrians and others," Queens D.A. Melinda Katz said Monday ahead of the arraignment.
Abreu reportedly confessed to the two-borough rampage, telling cops that Russians, Chinese and Europeans were pursuing him.
The six apparently random shootings unfolded in Queens and Brooklyn over the span of less than an hour on Saturday, leaving 86-year-old Hamoo Saeidi dead and three other men wounded.
Saeidi, a father of six and grandfather, was out for a walk at 109th Street and Jamaica Avenue in Richmond Hill when Abreu shot him in the back from a scooter, according to police.
Saeidi was pronounced dead at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center.
Saeidi's family said he was a native of Yemen and a devoted family man who joked a lot and had many friends. He was walking to his mosque at the time he was killed.
"My heart is broken and my family, all devastated," his son Ahmed Alsaedi told CBS New York.
Abreu's only prior run-in with cops was a traffic ticket before he allegedly left his Cypress Hills home on an illegal moped and started driving around shooting at people.
The shootings began around 11:10 a.m., when the gunman shot a 21-year-old man in the shoulder at Ashford Street and Arlington Avenue in Cypress Hills. The man was brought to a hospital in stable condition.
Then shortly before 11:30 a.m., he allegedly shot Saeidi as he stood on a sidewalk.
Shortly afterward in Richmond Hill, witnesses reported a man on a scooter firing randomly into a group of people at 108th Street and Jamaica Avenue, although nobody was hurt.
At 11:35 a.m., a 44-year-old man was shot in the face at 126th Street and Hillside Avenue on the border of Richmond Hill and Kew Gardens. He was transported to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in critical condition.
About one minute later, a 40-year-old man was shot at near 131st Street and Jamaica Avenue. He was not struck.
The sixth and final shooting scene was at 134th Street and Jamaica Avenue, where a 63-year-old man was shot in the right shoulder. He was in stable condition at a hospital.
The NYPD pulled an image of the gunman from video and sent it to officers, who spotted Abreu a couple hours after the first shooting, police said.
He was taken into custody at 1:10 p.m. after his scooter was stopped at Sutphin Boulevard and 94th Avenue in Jamaica. A handgun was recovered at the scene, according to police.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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