The family of Avrumie Itzkowitz is offering a combined $20,000 reward for information on his killing in Kissena Park, more than six weeks after the 75-year-old Kew Gardens Hills man was murdered near the park’s lake on May 18 with no public arrest, according to a report published July 1 by the Queens Jewish Link.
Crime Stoppers had set a $10,000 reward for information. The family matched it dollar for dollar, bringing the total to $20,000.
The family held a press conference at the site of the killing, drawing between 200 and 300 attendees, according to the Queens Jewish Link. Itzkowitz’s son, Tzvi Yonie, told the outlet the family still has no answers. “It’s shocking,” he said. “It’s devastating. And it’s still very fresh on our minds.” On the state of the investigation, he added: “We really don’t have any more information now than we did the day of.” Tzvi Yonie noted that the family has remained in regular contact with the NYPD and the Queens District Attorney’s Office.
His daughter, Leah Livshitz, raised the possibility that the killing was motivated by antisemitism. “My daddy was visibly Jewish,” she told the Queens Jewish Link. “His family deserves answers. The Jewish community deserves answers.” The family has asked investigators to examine whether antisemitism played a role. The NYPD has not classified the homicide as a hate crime and has said the investigation remains active, according to the Queens Jewish Link.
Itzkowitz was a mashgiach and a longtime Hatzalah emergency volunteer, and helped run the family bakery, G&I, later known as Mendy’s Bakery, a longtime fixture on Kew Gardens Hills’ Main Street. He was at Kissena Park on a lunch break from work when he was killed. “It was just a regular Monday afternoon,” Tzvi Yonie told the Queens Jewish Link. “He enjoyed going to the park on his lunch break.”
Their mother had died of cancer in the weeks before their father was killed, leaving the children without both parents in under three weeks. Their parents had been married for 53 years. On the morning of his murder, Itzkowitz was sitting shivah for his wife but left to comfort two other families who were mourning, according to the Queens Jewish Link.
Elected officials at the press conference included Assemblymembers Nily Rozic and David Weprin, State Senator John Liu, and Council Members Sandra Ung and Jim Gennaro. The family and investigators are asking anyone who was in Kissena Park on the afternoon of May 18, or who knows someone who was, to contact NYPD Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
