Tenant Faces Manslaughter Charges After Fatally Pushing Landlord Down Stairs In Queens

CORONA, Queens – A tenant is facing manslaughter charges, accused of pushing his 71-year-old landlord down a flight of stairs and to his death in Queens.

The incident was reported Sunday in the 3200 block of 102nd Street just after 2 p.m.

Police say the 71-year-old victim, Edgar Moncayo, was found at the bottom of a staircase, unconscious and bleeding from the head.

He was taken to Elmhurst Hospital in critical condition and was later pronounced dead.

During the course of their investigation, police say they reviewed video that showed the victim was pushed down the stairs.

Officials said Monday that 22-year-old Alex Garces has been arrested and charged with manslaughter in connection to the crime.

The victim’s family said that Garces had missed paying rent for at least one month, and Moncayo had gone to collect. He had reportedly given his landlord problems and was threatening to leave without paying.

Moncayo’s grandson said his grandfather had even reduced the rent from $400 to $200 a month.

Moncayo and his wife lived downstairs and rented out the upstairs. They were described as a gentle couple from Ecuador with three daughters and several grandchildren.

That doesn't looks like 71 years old

Kin of Queens man arrested in fatal shove of landlord say death was an ‘accident’

A shove down the stairs that killed an elderly Queens landlord was a tragic accident, relatives of the alleged attacker insisted Monday night.

The mother and brother-in-law of tenant Alex Garces, 22, said he didn’t mean to hurt landlord Edgar Moncayo, 70, who fell down the front steps of his Corona building Sunday afternoon.

“My son is a good son. He is not a fighter,” Garces’ mother, Delia Velastegui, 50, told the Daily News. “He is a construction worker and he helps support our family because his father has medical problems.”

Police arrested Garces on manslaughter charges after doorbell camera footage showed him shoving Moncayo down the front steps of the house on 102nd St. Moncayo, who hit his head on the sidewalk, died Monday.

“Oh my God! It was an accident!” Garces’ mother said at the family’s home a few blocks from Moncayo’s building.

“He is a good man. He’s never been in trouble before," she added. The family declined to comment about Garces’ December 2018 drunken driving arrest, which is still pending in court.

Moncayo’s family said Garces refused to pay $200 rent for a room in the elderly man’s house, and alleged that he broke in with a drill to retrieve his belongings.

Garces’ brother-in-law, Christhian Guapi, 22, disputes that account, saying that he accompanied Garces to help him move out, and that the landlord let both men in. Guapi said he had no idea about the rent.

"He didn’t ask us for anything. He just let us in to get Alex’s stuff,” Guapi said. They made two trips, and brought a “screw gun” to break up Garces’ bed. Moncayo even lent them an Allen key, he said.

But things got heated on their second trip, Guapi said.

“When I went inside, the landlord started an argument. He said, ‘Why are you trying to get all this stuff?’ The landlord locked us inside the corridor," Guapi said.

Moncayo allegedly jumped on Garces after he opened the door, Guapi said.

“Alex tried to ignore him while he got the stuff,” Guapi said. "He jumped on Alex one more time. They started pushing one another. One final push and the guy fell.”

Video showed the deadly encounter lasted just a few seconds — with Moncayo stepping back abruptly and telling someone on the phone to “call the police” in Spanish before he went back inside and was shoved down the stairs.

Guapi said his brother-in-law called 911 as soon as he saw the landlord couldn’t move, and stayed on the scene. “There was no fighting, no punching," he said. “It was an accident."