A 29-year-old man was killed in his home at 47-34 166th Street at 7:30 p.m. on Monday when a tree fell on his home.
Neighbors and local residents continued to pass by the home of Tony Laino into Tuesday afternoon, whose roof had been completely destroyed.
“I was really shocked,” said James Belmonte, a member of the neighborhood who lived on 168th Street and learned of the tragedy last night when he heard an ambulance pass through the area. “I just thought a tree had fallen. It was really sad.”
Alice Fiore, another neighbor, was out on the street with her daughter and son-in-law. Fiore, who said she'd been living in the house for the past 30 years, commented on the tragedy. “He was just a baby,” she said.
Fiore also said she had worked over the past decade to have trees removed from the area. “I've called 311. I've called the police. I've called the Parks Department,” she said. “And they didn't do anything, and now he is dead. It's such a horror.”
Her son-in-law said he feared that the large tree in front of their home would be the next the next to go, admitting that when their neighbor's tree initially fell, he feared that his children, who were upstairs, had been killed.
“You see that” Fiore said, pointing at the wrecked home. “He didn't have to die.”