3-year-old boy beaten to death at Pan American Hotel homeless shelter

 

 Queens Post

A toddler is dead after being found battered and bruised inside a homeless shelter in Elmhurst Sunday — and police are investigating the incident as a homicide.

The victim, a 3-year-old boy named Shaquan Butler, was found at around 7:40 p.m. by police inside the Boulevard Family Residence — a family homeless shelter located at 79-00 Queens Boulevard. The child’s parents called 911, police said.

Butler was unconscious and unresponsive with bruises throughout his body that were in different stages of healing, according to the NYPD.

The child had a faint pulse when emergency services arrived on the scene and he was then transported by EMS to NYC Health & Hospital/Elmhurst but could not be saved, police said.

The toddler was also found to have had a collapsed lung, police said.

The victim’s mother told police that the child began to act strangely and began choking shortly before they called 911, the NYPD said.

He then ran into a pillar inside the shelter, fell back and struck his head on the floor, the boy’s mother told police.

 However, police say that story was inconsistent with his injuries and the NYPD has now launched a homicide investigation.

 

Homeless shelter landlord plans to build school next to Pan American Hotel

Jackson Heights Post

The owner of the homeless shelter at the former Pan American hotel has filed plans to build a school on an adjacent site, according to building records.

David Levitan, one of the largest homeless shelter landlords in the city, has filed plans with the Department of Buildings to construct a 4-story school at 79-20 Queens Blvd in Elmhurst, on the lot directly next to the 79-00 Queens Blvd. shelter that he also owns.

Levitan, who is listed as the property owner on record, filed the plans on Nov. 22 to build the 39,764-square-foot school.

The school will house at least 18 classrooms, as well as multiple science labs, a music room, a fine arts room, a media lab, a teachers lounge, a cafeteria and kitchen, a rooftop play area and several offices, according to the plans.

The building will reach 53 feet in height, according to building plans. The plan makes no mention of whether the school will be public or privately run.

The school will sit next to the shelter, as Levitan bought a number of properties along the strip.
Levitan bought three sites — 79-20 Queens Blvd., 79-14 Queens Blvd. and 79-13 51st Ave. — next to the former hotel for $3,750,000 in April 2014, months after he brought the hotel site for $23,100,000 in January 2014, according to city records. He bought each lot from Panamendel Corp.

Wow. Apparently, with over tens of thousands of homeless children attending school, something like this was inevitable. The tale of two cities continues...