Cops: Fatal shove eyed in homicide

STAMFORD — A violent shove during an argument and a resulting fall onto a concrete sidewalk last week has led to the death of a homeless man in Stamford, police said.

The victim has been identified at Leobardo Quintero, 43. Police are looking for the person who pushed him.

On Sept. 5, at about 9:30 p.m., police were called to Alden Street near Stillwater Avenue on a report of a man down on the sidewalk. Responding officers found a “tumultuous scene” in which men and women were surrounding Quintero, who was lying on the sidewalk going in and out of consciousness after having hit his head on the hard surface, according to a news release.

Quintero was rushed to the Stamford Hospital emergency room, but by the following afternoon he was listed as brain dead in hospital records, said. Sgt. Sean Boeger, who is heading up the investigation. Early Tuesday, Quintero was taken off life support and died.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled that Quintero died of a blunt impact injury to the head that caused a subdermal hemotoma and the manner of death was a homicide.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the victim’s family,” Capt. Richard Conkin said.

His death marks the third homicide for the year in Stamford, said Lt. Michael Noto.

On March 30, Stephon Walthrust of Queens was shot and killed in Stamford’s South End. On May 22, 54yearold Enrique Gutama was stabbed to death with an open pair of scissors during an argument. Arrests were made in both cases.

Boeger said investigators determined Quintero was involved in a heated argument with several people before being pushed to the ground. He said a suspect has been identified in the case but declined to elaborate.

Twin sisters Emily and Linda Soto say they are going to miss Quintero.

“He was my best friend. He would tell me everything, everything,” said Emily Soto, 28. She said Quintero did not have a stable place to stay and had a minor drinking problem but rarely, if ever, imbibed during the day.

Emily Soto said Quintero was not married and had no children but had two brothers who live in Michigan.

“He was a lovable person,” her sister added. “Everybody loved him. He always put a smile on everyone’s face. He was like a brother.”

During his time in Stamford, Quintero had several runins with the police. He also drifted around from address to address.

Police records indicate Quintero has been in Stamford since at least March 2005 when police listed him as a witness to an assault. At the time, he told police he lived on Cold Spring Road, but when he was the complainant for a disorderly conduct call at Curley’s Diner in 2009 he was living on Smith Street.

In 2015 when he was charged with creating a public disturbance, his listed residence was on Hazel Street.

In 2017 police said he tried to pull a stop sign out of the ground on West Broad Street. At that time he was listed as homeless.

In 2018 he was the victim of an assault and in January 2019 he was charged with breach of peace for throwing birthday cake on a man in a wheel chair. Quintero at the time told police he had no stable address.

Heavy alcohol use was a reported factor in several of the police cases, and Boeger said drinking appears to have been involved in the latest incident. Boeger said investigators do not know what the argument was about that lead to the shove.