By Alex Davidson and Nicole Flatow
The brother-in-law of a Jamaica grandmother has been arrested on charges of shooting to death the 61-year-old Guyanese immigrant in the basement of her Jamaica home, authorities said.
Rudolph Mohamed, the son-in-law of the murdered Rautie Mangra, said he found his mother-in-law collapsed on the floor of her basement residence at 168-43 89th Ave. Friday at 5:30 p.m. Mohamed said he and his father-in-law tried to assess Mangra's condition for one or two minutes after they found her before calling 911.
The Queens district attorney said Baljeet Mangra, 53, who lived at the same address, had been arrested Saturday and charged with second-degree murder as well as criminal possession of a handgun.
He was identified by family members and state Assemblyman Brian McLaughlin (D-Flushing), whose district extends in that area, as Rautie Mangra's brother-in-law. But a spokesman for the DA said she did not know the relationship between Mangra and the dead woman.
The DA said Rautie Mangra died of a gunshot wound to the upper chest at 5:08 p.m. Friday.
“She was a very simple woman,” said Mohamed, surrounded by his children and other family members Saturday at the house he and his family shared with his in-laws. “She was a nice lady.”
Mohamed said he and his family noticed the smell of gas coming up from Mangra's basement apartment on Friday afternoon. He said he sent one of his daughters downstairs to get laundry detergent and to investigate, but she immediately came back upstairs to him screaming.
“She (Rautie Mangra) was there collapsed on the floor,” said Mohamed, who said the citywide power outage made it difficult for him to quickly descend the two-story home's staircase. He also said the lack of light prevented him from immediately finding out what was wrong with his mother-in-law.
Mohamed said the Police Department found a bullet shell and told him Mangra had been shot to death.
Other family members who gathered at Mangra's Jamaica home said no one in the neighborhood had heard a gun fired at the time Mangra was killed.
Rautie Mangra, a native of Guyana, had immigrated to the United States in February 2002 and was married to her husband for more than 40 years, Mohamed said. He said although she did not yet have a full-time job, she was a productive person who took care of the entire family and managed her relatives' finances.
“She was very good,” Mohamed said.
After the murder Rautie Mangra's daughter, Lakhmattie Mangra, contacted McLaughlin, who helped her to secure funds for the funeral and counseling from the Crime Victims Board and Catholic charities.
“While we mourn the loss of this wife and mother, no family's pain should be made greater because they cannot properly bury her,” McLaughlin said.
With the funds the family received, they were able to pay next month's mortgage and some grocery and funeral expenses, said Farouk Samaroo, a community liaison for McLaughlin's assembly district.
One local interfaith community center, Neelkanthdham Temple, will be contributing food and another, Maha Lakshmi Mandir temple, will be starting a fund for the family.
“We have only been in this country one year and six months,” Lakhmattie Mangra told reporters outside the family home Tuesday. “We had no idea whatsoever we were going to be getting money. It's as if the heavens have opened up; that's how I feel.”
Reach reporter Alex Davidson by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.
