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BY KEVIN DUGGAN
A Manhattan Beach man faces
life in prison without parole
for allegedly murdering three
Asian employees of a Sheepshead
Bay restaurant with a
hammer, according to the district
attorney, who on Feb. 1
announced he will prosecute
the killings as a hate crime.
Prosecutors slapped Arthur
Martunovich, 34, with a
21-count indictment including
fi rst-degree murder, second
degree murder as a hate
crime, and other charges for
what District Attorney Eric
Gonzalez described as an atrocious
and racist attack .
“This was a violent, horrifi
c and harrowing attack
on three completely innocent,
hardworking men who were
targeted simply because they
were Asian. Sheepshead Bay,
like all of Brooklyn, celebrates
its diversity and will not tolerate
vicious, hate-fi lled attacks
in its community,” Gonzalez
said.
Martunovich, whom a
Police Department spokeswoman
previously described
as emotionally disturbed,
was arraigned last Friday before
Supreme Court Justice
Danny Chun via video conference
from Bellevue Hospital,
where he is being held in the
psych ward, according to Gonzalez’s
spokeswoman Helen
Peterson.
Chun ordered Martunovich
be held without bail, and that
he submit to a psychiatric
exam to see whether he is fi t
to stand trial, which will be
determined by the time of his
next court date on March 4,
Peterson said.
The defendant on Jan. 15
walked into the Seaport Buffet
on Emmons Avenue near
E. 21st Street armed with a
hammer around 5:11 pm, telling
a Latino employee that he
would not harm him before
Photo by Julianne McShane
COUNT HIM OUT: Steven Feinstein, the owner of Wilensky Hardware on Mermaid Avenue between W. 21st
and W. 22nd streets, does not want his shop included in the proposed Coney Island Business Improvement
District, because he doesn’t want to pay taxes to fund its expenses, such as holiday-light displays.
BY JULIANNE MCSHANE
Mom-and-pop shopkeepers on
Mermaid Avenue want out of
the business-boosting group
some Coney Islanders hope to
create in the neighborhood,
because the annual fees they
would pay to be a part of the socalled
Business Improvement
District will largely benefi t
bigger companies’ storefronts
on more touristy streets, not
their shops, they said.
“If they want to create the
bid, keep it along the amusement
park district and on
Surf Avenue,” said Edwin
Cosme, who owns Hair 4 You
on Mermaid Avenue between
W. 17th and W. 19th streets, as
well as a nearby apartment
building on the avenue, both
of which fall within the current
boundaries of the proposed
district. “We don’t see
how local businesses along
Mermaid Avenue are going
to benefi t. It’s an additional fi -
nancial burden.”
Last December, leaders
of the local Alliance for Coney
Island kicked off the formal
process to create the
bid , whose current proposed
footprint includes proper-
Continued on page 12
Vol. 74 No. 6 BROOKLYNPAPER.COM
Continued on page 12
IT’S A BID
PROBLEM
DA: Killings at
S’Bay restaurant
were a hate crime
Mermaid merchants want out of proposed biz district
INDICTED: Prosecutors on Feb. 1
slapped Arthur Martunovich, on
gurney, with charges including
fi rst-degree murder and seconddegree
murder as a hate crime
for allegedly killing three Asian
employees of a Sheepshead Bay
restaraunt with a hammer last
month. File photo by Paul Martinka
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