A Staten Island man has been charged in the murder of his neighbor—and police say that the shooter was out for revenge after the neighbor spat in his wife's face. Asim Martinez, 32, was caught on surveillance video shooting Tracy Francis a dozen times on September 3. According to the Daily News, Martinez also stabbed a different man in the neck with an ice pick after he had slapped Martinez's female cousin.
A police source told SILive that Francis allegedly spat at Martinez's wife during an argument at their apartment complex in Stapleton. After Francis went back to his apartment, Martinez came down and fired 12 shots at him. The victim's family said that dispute started when Martinez allegedly spat on Francis' girlfriend three times and told her to "go get her man"—when Francis went to Martinez's apartment to confront him and Martinez refused to open the door, Francis then spat on his wife.
Martinez has been charged with second-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. This wasn't the first fatal shooting which he has been involved in: Martinez was arrested in 1999 for allegedly shooting David Walker to death on a basketball court at Staten Island's Stapleton Houses. A grand jury declined to indict him on murder charges; but two years later, he was convicted on assault charges in a separate shooting. He had two other prison stints after police busted him with crack and a gun.
On his Facebook page, Martinez has one particularly notable profile picture, which reads: "Never Forget What Someone Says To You When They're Angry Because That Is When The Truth Comes Out."
