An explosive package that critically injured a Queens landlord on Friday was intended for a gang member believed to be living at the property, according to police sources. Update: The landlord died from his injuries on August 1.
The package, addressed to "Mac" and covered in a trash bag, was detonated after 73-year-old landlord George Wray opened a cylindrical container that'd been sitting outside the house for a week. It "wasn’t supposed to be for him,” a detective said at the scene, according to the Post. While the exact target of the weapon remains unclear, a police source told the tabloid that the package was intended for a Bloods gang member believed to be living at the property.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce tweeted Friday evening that the victim suffered second- and third-degree burns to 80% of his body as a result of the "victim-acuated" device. The explosive was detonated on Friday afternoon outside a Brookville home on 222nd Street between 145th Avenue and 145th Road, DNAinfo reports.
Donna Harris, a spokeswoman for the New York division of the United States Postal Inspection Service, told the Times that the explosive did not appear to be sent by mail. The Times also spoke to a woman who identified herself as the landlord's wife, who said that her husband was a former hospital worker and that she couldn't imagine why anyone would want to hurt him.
Wray is currently in the hospital and remains in critical condition, police said. The investigation is ongoing.
