Relations of a 75-year-old kosher bakery proprietor discovered shot lifeless close to a Queens park lake final month stated they suspected the “visibly Jewish” man was focused in a hate crime – as investigators and kin bumped the award for any leads on the slaying to $20,000.
Albert Itzkowitz – who additionally served as a rabbi at a nursing house – was mysteriously discovered shot within the neck and again alongside the shoreline of Kissena Lake simply earlier than 5 p.m. Might 18, and the town health worker’s workplace has since dominated the case a murder.
With no established motive or info on a suspect greater than a month later, Itzkowitz’s family members are left questioning whether or not the killer was motivated by anti-Semitic hate.
“Daddy was visibly Jewish,” Itzkowitz’s visibly emotional daughter, Leah Livshitz, advised reporters gathered on the similar park Thursday morning. “He was focused in broad daylight.”
Livshitz described Kissena Park as “a quiet place” her dad “recurrently visited throughout his lunch break.”
“He was not concerned in a dispute,” she stated. “He was not committing any crime. His pockets was nonetheless on him. He was merely sitting there, an Orthodox Jewish man, dressed as he was. A rabbi going about his day.”
“And 5 weeks later the NYPD has nonetheless introduced no arrests. No suspects, no leads and no publicly acknowledged motive,” the sufferer’s shaken daughter added. “That’s unacceptable. This isn’t some random crime in some random place.”
The NYPD has not deemed the case a hate crime as of Thursday — including that Itzkowitz was present in apparel with “no distinguishing non secular elements” that will establish him as Jewish.
It appeared he was within the park to sunbathe, as he was discovered with a seaside chair, a baseball cap and sun shades with a crossword puzzle, in accordance with police.
A lot earlier within the day, he made journeys to and from his house, a synagogue, a Capitol One financial institution the place he made a withdrawal, and a Walgreen’s, the place he made a purchase order, cops stated.
“All motives” are being explored in the course of the investigation, police added, noting that Crime Stoppers has been handing out flyers for weeks, and the division’s scuba workforce has been scouring the lake.
Tzvi Yonie Itzkowitz, 34, the sufferer’s youngest son, stated the household is matching Crime Stoppers’ award of $10,000 for any info resulting in an arrest within the case – for a complete of $20,000.
“The police estimate there might have been 200, 300 folks right here. It’s a really giant park,” Itzkowitz stated. “They’re asking that anybody who noticed something or is aware of something to come back ahead.”
The household was baffled when investigators tried to piece collectively whether or not anybody might have had private points with Itzkowitz.
“When the police had been asking us, ‘Does he have any enemies? Does he have any neighbors who he had troubles with?’, all of us had been crying,” his son stated. “However on the similar time we began laughing out loud and everybody began smiling, ‘Enemies?’ The thought is comical to us. He was the sweetest, kindest man. So good and wonderful to everybody.”
Itzkowitz, of Kew Gardens Hills, owned the G&I Kosher Bakery on Predominant Road, a neighborhood establishment for a number of years earlier than it shut down. He was additionally a volunteer EMT, in accordance with his daughter.
Outdoors of labor, Itzkowitz was deeply devoted to his household, together with his spouse, who handed away April 30, a pair weeks earlier than his homicide, Livshitz stated.
“Daddy was a household man. He was a loyal husband,” his daughter stated. “And he was the best father and grandfather we might have requested for. He by no means missed a college operate. He by no means missed a household milestone. And he handled each grandchild as in the event that they had been an important particular person on the planet.”
“That’s the reason it’s so unattainable to grasp {that a} man who spent his total life caring for others may very well be taken from us in such a violent and mindless approach.”
Native politicians issued passionate calls Thursday for the group to step in with any info on the slaying.
“Someone should have seen and heard one thing,” stated State Senator John Liu. “So I admire the household stepping up the reward cash however members of our public. The members of our group right here must be stepping up it doesn’t matter what.”
“Primary there’s a killer at giant,” he added. “And it makes it harmful for all of us and our households.”
A complete of 41 confirmed anti-Jewish hate crimes had been reported within the Huge Apple final month — greater than a 70 p.c soar from the 24 counted in Might of 2025, NYPD knowledge reveals.
From January by way of Might, 152 anti-Semitic crimes had been reported, up from the 143 tallied throughout the identical span final yr.
