Investigators were trying to determine on Tuesday if the man accused a violent spree in Astoria over the weekend is responsible for yet another nearby stabbing.
Two Critical Response Command officers were injured and the suspect, 23-year-old James Patrick Dillon, was shot after he went on a rampage on Sunday. He allegedly slashed a woman in the face and neck as she was on her way to church, fatally stabbed the owner of a liquor store in the neck, and burned a homeless man inside that same liquor store before his final standoff with cops.
Police were looking to see if Dillon was the same man who stabbed a 43-year-old man as he walked into a building on Roosevelt Avenue on Sunday.
In that incident, police said the suspect held the door open for the man at about 1:30 p.m. and then stabbed him in the back of the neck. The wound was not life-threatening.
Dillon is accused of slashing his first victim, 39-year-old Berta Carpio, at about 11:30 a.m. Just after 3 p.m., police said Dillon struck again, fatally stabbing 55-year-old George Patouhas, the owner of an Astoria Boulevard liquor store. Patouhas had intervened after Dillon started an argument with a man sitting in a chair.
At about 5:10 p.m., Dillon broke into an apartment on 42nd Street, near Newtown Road, but fled, police said.
And about 30 minutes later, he was spotted by the two CRC officers in the backyard of the home he shares with his parents. He allegedly sprayed the two officers with a chemical accelerant, burning their hands. He was then shot several times, police said.
He was taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center, and has not yet been charged.
