BEAU BUSTED IN GAL SLAY
A QUICK-TEMPERED Queens man shot and killed the 34-yearold mother of his newborn son after the couple had a fight early Sunday, cops said.
The 31-year-old brute blasted Luz Cuza in the head outside her home on 147th St. near 133rd Ave. in Jamaica about 2 a.m., according to police. She was taken to Jamaica Hospital, where doctors tried in vain to save her.
Cops picked up the boyfriend, identified by sources as Robert Rodriguez, a short time later at 115th Ave. and 225th St. in Cambria Heights. They recovered a .40-caliber firearm, authorities said.
Charges against Rodriguez were pending Sunday.
Cuza’s brother Ray Garcia was at home with his sister when the crazed boyfriend pulled the trigger. He said the couple had been arguing that night.
“I didn’t think he was going to hurt her because she just gave birth to his son . . .,” he said.
Garcia was inside the house when he heard a shot ring out. “When I go to the front, my sister is laying on the ground with her eye almost popped out,” he said. “She was gasping for air.”
“When I saw that, I knew how much I loved my sister, because I started crying,” Garcia recalled, devastated.
“I said, ‘Don’t worry, I’m gonna save you.’ And I knocked on every neighbor’s house, because I didn’t have my phone with me.”
One of the neighbors had already called 911, but the boyfriend had fled.
“He was walking away,” Garcia said. “And he disappeared by the time the cops came.”
Police caught up with Rodriguez, who works as a parking attendant in Manhattan, soon after.
The couple’s child, Lucito LaKing was born just four months ago. Cops said the victim’s mother will take care of the baby.
The victim’s friend Jessica Heyliger, 36, said Cuza had worked at a hair salon until the baby was born, and had been doing hair at her home since giving birth.
Heyliger said the couple had their issues, but she never expected things were that bad.
“Yes, they fought and argued,” Heyliger said. “But as far as him shooting her in the face, it wouldn’t lead to that.”
Heyliger said that just hours before the murder, she received a text from Cuza apologizing for the barrage of messages she had sent the the previous day. Cuza said she was “upset.” Heyliger said that if she had responded sooner or just come over, Cuza might still be alive.
Cops said there had been no previous calls for domestic violence at the home.
Neighbors said the suspect’s mother came by every weekend to spend time with the child.
The investigation was ongoing Sunday.