A Bronx man will serve 24 years in prison for killing a rival whose car he stole — only to drive it over his unconscious victim in a “shocking” act of afternoon violence in Astoria, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Zahir Williams, 26, pleaded guilty in October to first-degree manslaughter for killing Francisco Ortega, 50, — a man whom he’d argued with outside an Astoria Boulevard nightclub a night earlier — in the depraved Oct. 20, 2023, attack, according to the Queens District Attorney’s Office.
Williams and two other men ambushed Ortega after the doomed man his BMW sedan at a red light at Steinway Street and Astoria Boulevard at 3:55 p.m, authorities said.
As Ortega spoke with Williams and another man outside of the vehicle, Pennsylvania resident Aaron Mayers approached him from behind and punched him in the back of the head, according to prosecutors. Williams and the others then repeatedly kicked and punched Ortega as he lay on the ground, the DA’s office says.
Williams fled the scene on foot after running over his victim in the dead man’s own BMW, prosecutors say. ABC 7
The twisted attack then escalated even further as Williams stepped over the unconscious man and into the BMW, which he drove around the block — before accelerating it over the defenseless victim’s body, prosecutors said.
Ortega was still alive after being punched and kicked, and it was Williams running him over that killed him, according to the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office.
The killing was a “an act of shocking cruelty and violence,” Queens DA Melinda Katz said in a statement.
Williams allegedly dragged Ortega’s body several feet before crashing into a parked car and fleeing on foot, according to the DA’s office.
Williams pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the first degree after admitting to the shocking slaying. ABC 7
Charges against Mayers are still pending.
A court-appointed lawyer who repped Williams at his sentencing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.