A Libyan war refugee stabbed a pal to death during a drunken Queens fracas that sent his frightened roommates leaping for their lives out a second-floor window, cops and witnesses said yesterday.
Wahid Elawame, 35, a dishwasher and handyman, savagely attacked Mrwan Said, 28, also of Queens, inside Elawame’s four-bedroom home on Steinway Street, near 28th Avenue, shortly before 11:30 p.m. Friday.
Elawame’s roommates, who do not speak English, told neighbors the melee erupted when Said, a visitor, tried to back out of an alleged plot to kill Elawame’s boss, Sammy Zebib, a restaurant owner who had refused to give Elawame more work. When Said attempted to leave Elawame’s apartment, witnesses said he shouted, “No, don’t leave, you have to stay!” and began to slash Said in his torso.
Two of Elawame’s terrified roommates jumped out of the window — landing hard on the roof of a first-floor apartment that jutted out behind the home, according to witnesses.
One of the terrified roommates, who have not been identified, broke his arm and wailed, “He’s getting killed! He’s getting killed!”
A neighbor, Antonia Grancelli, 20, who lives on the building’s first floor said just before her father found the men crying on the roof, she heard fighting in the apartment.
Her sister called police.
When officers arrived, they found Elawame sitting quietly at the murder scene, casually smoking a cigarette. He blamed the death on his roommates, who were found outside on the street crying.
“Wahid just sat there and smoked a cigarette, and when the cops came, he tried to blame it on his friends,” said a fourth roommate, Mohamed Mohamed, 52, who was not in the apartment at the time of the murder. But when cops began to take him into custody, Elawame became enraged again.
“It took four [police] to get him under control,” said Simbad Zebib, 50, who owns the Lanali Beirut Cafe and Restaurant, one of Elawame’s targets in the alleged murder plot.
Last week, at the restaurant — attached to the building where Elawame lives — the accused killer threatened to murder Zebib and his brother, Sammy, also 50, Zebib said.
“To be honest, he was a hard worker,” said Sammy Zebib. “But we called the cops on him three days ago because he threatened to kill me and my brother. He threatened me a lot, but the cops said they couldn’t do anything.”
Sammy Zebib said Elawame divorced his wife three months ago when he learned that his house had been burned down in Libya during the war. “Since then, he has been under a lot of stress,” Simbad Zebib said. “He’s a violent man. It could have been a lot worse. He’s a big guy. He’s strong.”
Elawame’s roommate Mohamed added: “He isn’t a normal man. He has problems. He’s an alcoholic. He shouts, screams. He’s not normal.”
Additional reporting by Jessica Simeone