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Auburndale man kills his father: Police

By Gabriel Rom

The first homicide in the 111th Precinct since 2014 is the result of a family affair gone horribly wrong, the Queens district attorney said.

Demetrios Safetis, 19 of Auburndale, was charged with first-degree manslaughter, assault and criminal possession of a weapon after he allegedly bashed his father to death with a steering wheel lock, the DA said.

According to the criminal complaint filed by the DA, the brutal assault occurred after Demetrios had an argument with his father, 57-year-old Ioannis “John” Safetis. The altercation occurred in the family’s Auburndale home, located at 190th Street near Utopia Parkway, Friday night.

Officers from the 111th Precinct and EMS units responded to the scene after receiving a 911 call about the incident and found Ioannis Safetis unconscious with blunt force trauma to his head and scratches across his face, the NYPD said. Paramedics rushed him to NewYork-Presbyterian/Queens hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Demetrios Safetis allegedly first struck his brother, Niko Safetis, with the steering wheel lock, causing his brother to bleed out from the nose, the complaint said. He then moved to his father, and struck him on the side of the head with his weapon, leaving a severe bump and abrasion on his father’s head, according to the court document.

Dimitrios Safetis was taken into custody at the scene and brought to the 111th Precinct’s Bayside station, where he was questioned by detectives and subsequently charged with his father’s death.

Queens Criminal Court Judge William Harrington issued an order of protection for Niko and set bail for Demetrios at $500,000. Demetrios Safetis was due to appear before a grand jury this week.

The 111th Precinct, where the killing occurred, recorded no murders according to NYPD CompStat figures. The numbers do not include manslaughter. Fifty-eight felony assaults were reported in all of 2015, while there were six felony assaults reported through the end of January, compared to two up until that point in 2014.

In December 2014 Jagsheer Singh from Bayside was arrested for allegedly killing his 4-month-old baby. Nevin Jandu. Singh, who was 28 at the time, told police that his child had fallen off a changing table, but doctors found multiple severe skull fractures that were not consistent with an accident, according to a criminal complaint filed by the DA in 2014.

Reach reporter Gabriel Rom by e-mail at grom@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4564.