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'I'm the Shooter,' Penn Station Gunman Tells Police, Officials Say

By Gwynne Hogan | November 24, 2015 11:18am
 Police had beefed up presence at McDonalds' at 490 Eighth Ave. following a fatal shooting nearby.
Police had beefed up presence at McDonalds' at 490 Eighth Ave. following a fatal shooting nearby.
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DNAinfo/Gwynne Hogan

CIVIC CENTER — The gunman accused of killing one man and injuring two others near Penn Station in a bid to take over the drug trade inside a McDonald's, confessed to the shooting after NYPD detectives tracked him down to a Rhode Island hideout, according to court records released Monday.

"Just so you know, I'm the shooter," Francisco Alsina, 23, told to Manhattan Homicide Detectives Alfred Titus and Joseph Barbara on Nov. 12, while being held at the Rhode Island State Police Barracks, according to court records.

Following the Nov. 9 shooting, Alsina, 23, fled to Long Island where he lived, then to Rhode Island, where he was apprehended, according to prosecutors.

Alsina was brought back to New York on Saturday and arraigned on murder and attempted murder charges in Manhattan Supreme Court on Monday.

His lawyer Michael Cirigliano said his client has a clean record.

"It's his first contact with the system," Cirigliano said. "He comes from a nice family. He's not a street kid so to speak."

Alsina was armed with a .380 caliber handgun when he was arrested by Rhode Island police last week, though Assistant District Attorney Jung Park said it was not the murder weapon.

Alsina's accomplice, Victor Arcona, 27, was arrested on Nov. 12 in the Bronx, and first admitted to being the gunman, but later recanted, according to court documents.

The fatal Nov. 9 shooting followed an argument inside a McDonald's chain restaurant at 490 Eighth Ave., according to sources. Arcona and Alsina were trying to take over a drug ring run in and around the chain restaurant, according to sources.

The three victims, Angel Quiñones, 43, William Lamboy, 45, and Ed Torres, 48, who sources said sold drugs in the area, left the McDonald's and started to walk north on Eighth Ave. when Alsina opened fire, killing Quiñones and injuring the other two men, according to prosecutors.

Arcona, who was with Alsina and who fled the scene in the same getaway car, was charged with drug possession and tampering with evidence last week after he pulled a bag of heroin out of his butt and snorted it inside an interrogation room, according to prosecutors. 

Following Monday's arraignment, Alsina was remanded without bail.

Prosecutors will place him in a line up in early December to see if witnesses can identify him as the shooter. He is due back in court on Dec. 5.