Steven Torres, a 22-year-old Bronx man, has been charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime for stabbing a 69-year-old Edward Orozco of Queens to death on a Queens street because he thought he was gay, police said.

(Photo Credit WABC news)

Orozco was stabbed near Roosevelt Avenue and 90th Street in Elmhurst as he was feeding a parking meter at 1:30 pm on Monday, witnesses said. Witnesses said the knife was nearly eight inches long.

NBC New York reports:



Witnesses ran after Torres and held him for police until he was taken into custody. “There was a lot of screaming, and all I could see was the guy was stabbing him — stabbing him and stabbing him,” said Eddie De Jesus, who was in his locksmith shop on 90th Street when he heard the commotion.

The NY Daily News reports on what set Torres off:

He (Torres) said the victim was blowing kisses to him. That’s what set him off,” a source said. “This is what he is claiming.

WABC New York reports: