Ronald Giacopelli Obituary-Death News; 63-Years Old Man Fatally Stabbed Inside A Mental Health Facility On Creedmoor
A 63-year-old man was found fatally stabbed inside a mental health facility on Creedmoor Psychiatric Center’s campus in Queens Monday morning, and his 23-year-old roommate — described by residents as his close friend — was charged in the slaying.
The victim, identified by police as Ronald Giacopelli, was a resident of the sprawling facility on Winchester Blvd. in Queens Village, NYPD sources said. He was found facedown on the floor in the room of the suspect, the sources said.
The man had been stabbed multiple times in the back of the neck and lower back. The younger patient, David Zheng, was taken into custody for questioning but “has no recollection whatsoever about what happened [Sunday] night,” a police source said.
He was later charged with murder, tampering with physical evidence and criminal possession of a weapon, police said.
The murder weapon, a knife, was recovered, cops said.
The violence unfolded at Hazel House, a 52-bed inpatient residential mental-health program on Creedmoor’s expansive 125-acre campus, where Giacopelli and Zheng became close friends, residents told the Daily News.
“They seemed to be very happy,” 54-year-old resident Shannon Sumpter said of the doomed duo. “They were good friends, but David didn’t take his medication. They were always calling him over the loudspeaker to come and get it.”
Sumpter stood outside in the frigid cold as police led the suspect out of the building after the slaying.
“I was there when they handcuffed David,” Sumpter said. “When the police brought him out, he looked like nothing happened, like it was all normal.”
Both Sumpter and another resident at the Hazel House remembered Giacopelli as a kind man who often kept Zheng company.
“The two of them, they were always together,” said Fahteasha Mercer, 36. “They both suffered from serious mental illness. I’m shocked. I can’t believe it. They were good friends.”
A spokesman with the state’s Office of Mental Health said the agency is “fully cooperating with the NYPD’s investigation and will review the circumstances that led to this tragic event.”