QUEENS — A man who had been locked up for the last 14 years for manslaughter escaped from a psychiatric hospital in Queens Tuesday, after he swapped clothes with a pal, police said.
Raymond Morillo, 33, who was convicted in 1999 for manslaughter and assault, was being held at Creedmoor Psychiatric Facility on Winchester Boulevard in Queens Village, because he was deemed mentally unstable, police said.
A friend visited Morillo on Jan. 28 at 11:25 a.m. and the two exchanged clothes, police said.
After swapping clothes, Morillo, who was released from state prison in December, fled the facility, police said. His friend was also able to leave the location.
The level of security to which Morillo was subject at Creedmoor was not immediately clear.
"Any escaped patient is immediately reported to local law enforcement," said Ben Rosen of the NYS Office of Mental Health in an email.
In 1999, Morillo was convicted of manslaughter for being involved in a fatal shooting, according to records provided by the NYS Department of Correction.
Morillo was also convicted of assault in 1999 for slashing two men with a razor blade on a train in Astoria.
According to the Queens DA’s office, Morillo, who lived in Corona and was 18 at the time, and his friend Ricardo Munquia followed two men to the platform of the N train in Astoria in January 1998, after one of the victims had an argument with Munquia's brother.
The men were waiting for the train with two women and another man when Morillo and Munquia approached them from behind and slashed both of them with razor blades from the bottom of the ear, across their cheeks and to the lip, disfiguring them permanently, according to the DA's office.
Before they fled the scene, Morillo allegedly shouted "La Familia," the name of a Latin street gang.
Police described Morillo as 5-foot-11 and weighing 215 pounds, with a tear drop tattoo under his left eye. He was last seen wearing a black baseball cap, white sweater and tan pants.
Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS.
The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers Website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or texting their tips to 274637(CRIMES) then enter TIP577.
