QUEENS — Three women were brutally beaten by a hammer-wielding ex-con in their Astoria apartment during a frightening home invasion robbery on Easter Sunday, police and prosecutors said.
All of the victims in the alleged attack by Lawrence Parsons, 29, were left in critical condition with multiple skull fractures, according to prosecutors. One was left partially blind.
And in a bizarre twist, the suspect, who was released from state prison late last month, kissed one of his victims on the head before fleeing with their electronics, court documents said.
After he was arrested two days later, Parsons, who was hit with a slew of charges, including first-degree attempted murder, assault, burglary and robbery, said to detectives that he "is scared to death that he might go to jail for life," the criminal complaint said.
Parsons, who police said knew one of the victims, allegedly broke into an Astoria apartment on 18th Street and 20th Avenue through a window about 2:40 a.m. on April 20.
Once inside, he attacked and terrorized a 31-year-old woman, her mother and her aunt with a hammer, according to court documents.
The youngest victim woke up to her mother's screams, according to the criminal complaint.
She walked toward the screams and saw a man beating her mother in the head with a hammer, the court documents said.
When the suspect saw her, the man turned toward her and allegedly beat her until she blacked out.
The suspect then turned to the aunt, who later told investigators she felt someone kiss her forehead after the brutal attack, according to the complaint.
The beating left the 31-year-old with three skull fractures and multiple broken bones in her face, authorities said. She also lost sight in her left eye.
Her mother suffered multiple skull fractures, left eye damage, and lacerations throughout her face, authorities said. The aunt suffered multiple face and skull fractures.
Two of the women were taken to Elmhurst Hospital and the other was rushed to New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
Police said Friday that two of the women were in serious condition.
Surveillance video allegedly captures Parsons walking around the apartment complex and ringing the buzzer multiple times before the attack.
Later, he is allegedly seen running out of the building with a cellphone, computer and iPad, according to the complaint.
Parsons was arrested Tuesday in his Brooklyn home, where officers found the stolen property after detectives matched a fingerprint on the screen of the victim's iPhone to him.
According to state Department of Correction records, Parsons served two two stints in prison in recent years for attempted assault and attempted robbery. Details of those cases were not immediately available.
He was most recently released on March 27, according to state department of parole records.
In a statement to police, Parsons, who was being held in lieu of $75,000 bail, admitted to hitting the women and said that he "will do whatever time he has to do," court documents said.
His next appearance at Queens Criminal Court is on May 7.
Parsons' lawyer did not immediately return a call for comment.
