QUEENS — Police are hunting a man who wore a camouflage jacket decorated with an American flag when he fatally stabbed a young father outside a Jackson Heights bodega in December, officials said.
The suspect, who can be seen in surveillance footage from police, stabbed Steven Shimabuku, 25, just steps from his 90th Street home near 35th Avenue about 11 p.m. on Dec. 19, according to NYPD officials.
Shimabuku, a plumber and father to a 3-year-old boy, was heading to get a haircut when he was stabbed and then ran back to his basement apartment, according to reports.
He was pronounced dead at Elmhurst Hospital, police said.
Police were still investigating the motive for the attack, but Shimabuku and the suspect may have had a prior dispute, an NYPD spokeswoman said.
In the video released by police, the suspect walks down the street and passes by a person in a gray hoodie and then abruptly turns around. It was not immediately clear if the person in the hoodie was the victim.
The suspect wore a camouflage jacket, dark pants and white sneakers, police said.
The same block was the scene of another shooting just three days later that left a man critically wounded, police said. That incident appeared to be gang-related.
Anyone with information should contact Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS (8477).
