QUEENS — He had an ax to grind.
A Rego Park ex-con was so incensed by the noise coming from his neighbors’ apartment that he threatened the men inside and unleashed a shot into their guitar, cops said.
Jeffrey Marino, who appeared in court Friday, allegedly fired one shot inside the two-story building on Jan. 3 at 64-09 Fleet St.
“Your music is too loud," Marino, 43, allegedly yelled after kicking open the door and blasting. "I’m going to kill you.”
It's not clear if he was referring to music on the radio, or music being played on the guitar.
No one was injured.
According to court documents, he whipped out a .38-caliber pistol, pointed it at a guitar hanging over the head of another roommate and fired a shot, breaking the instrument.
When a roommate who was sleeping downstairs heard the gunshot and came to investigate, the suspect allegedly pointed the gun at him and ordered him to get on the ground.
That's when he pointed a gun at the three men living in the apartment.
“Give me your identification, I know where you live, if you call the cops I will send people after you,” he said, according to the court documents.
Cops, who responded to a 911 call, caught Marino, who they say was trying to get away.
“He had the gun on him in his pocket,” Capt. Thomas Conforti, commanding officer of the 112th Precinct, said at a recent community council meeting.
Apart from a .38-caliber gun, Marino also allegedly had a switchblade in his pocket and the IDs he had taken from the men.
After searching Marino’s apartment, police said they found three bags of marijuana and 19 rounds of .38-caliber ammunition.
Marino, who was charged with criminal possession of a weapon and burglary, was released on $7,500 bail.
On Friday, he rejected a plea deal that would have given him a seven-year sentence, said Brian Pakett, his lawyer.
Pakett said Marino “was not shooting at anybody” and “thankfully nobody was injured.”
Marino “suffers from many diseases, including Crohn’s disease, he has one kidney, lymphoma, all this type of stuff,” Pakett said.
According to the criminal complaint, Marino was convicted in 1994 of grand larceny and insurance fraud.
