Queens family still searching for answers 1 month after grandfather's fatal shooting

A Queens family says they are still searching for answers more than a month after their beloved patriarch was fatally shot in Kissena Park.

Heartache and plenty of questions have mounted for the Itzkowitz family since Albert Itzkowitz, 75, was killed in Flushing.

The family on Thursday announced a reward of $20,000 for any information that leads to an arrest in this case.  

"We can't wrap our heads around this"

It was back on May 18 when police say Itzkowitz was fatally shot along the shoreline of Kissena Lake. Police say he had been shot in the back and neck. His family returned to the scene Thursday, where flyers are posted and police tape remains.

"There's not much that we do know. Somebody came at him and shot him multiple times," Tzvi Yonie Itzkowitz, the victim's son, said. "This happened in broad daylight in an area that we all assumed was safe."

"We met with detectives. They told us all that there is to know, which is a lot of nothing. Nobody has come forward," daughter Leah Livshitz said.

A longtime fixture in the community, Albert Itzkowitz was a volunteer with the Jewish emergency medical service Hatzalah and owned a well-known kosher bakery with his family before it closed.

The loss rattled many in the neighborhood.

"He was the sweetest, kindest man and got along with everybody," Tzvi Yonie Itzkowitz said. "It's impossible. We can't wrap our heads around this.

"We are desperate for answers, and have found ourselves in emotional limbo for the past month," he added. "No one deserves this. My dad didn't deserve this. We want to do everything we can to ensure that whoever did this is brought to justice, and my dad gets the justice that he deserves."

Was it a hate crime?

Weeks later, with no leads or arrests in the case, one theory is gaining traction with the victim's family.

"We are fearing the worst, that this could've been a hate crime," Tzvi Yonie Itzkowitz said.

As of now, the NYPD has not deemed the case a hate crime. The investigation is ongoing.

"They didn't want to rule anything out yet, but it has been so much time and still no info. I think that we can assume it's a hate crime," Livshitz said.

Local leaders and community members rallied around the family on Thursday afternoon in Kissena Park in the hope of shedding new light on the murder mystery. They made note of the fact that Albert Itzkowitz was wearing a yarmulke at the time of his death in a city that has seen a rise in antisemitic violence.

"There's a killer at large," state Sen. John Liu said.