By Alex Ginsberg
A Long Island City man allegedly went berserk, firing wildly at trees, windows and the sky outside the Ravenswood Houses after he shot his girlfriend to death inside the couple’s apartment, police and witnesses said.
John Scott, 35, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder, criminal possession of a weapon and reckless endangerment after the incident on the morning of Aug. 13 outside 23-03 36th Ave., the Queens district attorney’s office said.
The victim, 40-year-old Christelle Peterson, was described by neighbors as a kind-hearted mother who accompanied her young daughter to school each morning.
“I don’t know why he’d want to kill a sweet person like that,” said Sandra Davis, a neighbor who lived several apartments down from Scott and Peterson on the first floor of the six-story building.
The woman’s children, a 15-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl, were now in the care of relatives in Brooklyn, Davis said.
Taped to the door of the building the next morning was an impromptu memorial with photos of the victim. Below the pictures a typed message read, “Our beloved Chrissy Peterson. We will miss you.”
Under that tribute, a bullet hole was still visible in the cracked window, and in the courtyard police tape marked off bullet holes on trees.
Margarita Pilataxi, an attendant in the Laundromat across 36th Avenue from the crime scene, said she saw Scott run out of the building and fire wildly into the air shortly after 9 a.m. She described a wild scene in which terrified bystanders ran frantically away from the source of the roughly six gunshots.
According to a law enforcement source, Scott still had one bullet left in his 9mm handgun when he was arrested — a bullet he may have intended to use on himself had the pistol not jammed.
Scott was arraigned in State Supreme Court in Kew Gardens last Thursday and ordered held without bail, the DA’s office said.
Reach reporter Alex Ginsberg by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 157.
