NEW YORK, NY (PRESS RELEASE) – Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Rodolfo Lopez-Portillo, 48, has been indicted by a Queens County grand jury and arraigned in Supreme Court on murder charges and other crimes. The defendant allegedly struck and killed a 60-year-old pawn shop owner in broad daylight inside the Jamaica Avenue store in March 2022.
District Attorney Katz said, “The defendant has been indicted on murder charges following the fatal beating of a pawn store owner during a broad daylight robbery. Brutal lawlessness against our local business owners is unacceptable and will not go unanswered. The defendant faces a lengthy prison term if convicted for his alleged actions.”
Lopez-Portillo, of Jamaica Avenue in Hollis, Queens, was arraigned late this afternoon before Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth C. Holder on a five-count indictment. The defendant is charged with two counts of murder in the second degree, two counts of robbery in the first degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree. Justice Holder set the defendant’s return date for July 12, 2022. Lopez-Portillo faces up to 25 years-to-life in prison, if convicted.
According to the charges, soon after noon on March 28, 2022, the defendant walked into the Global Pawn Shop on Jamaica Avenue and confronted the store’s owner, Arasb Shoughi. The defendant allegedly used a blunt object to repeatedly strike the 60-year-old victim in the head multiple times. The defendant then allegedly removed property from Mr. Shoughi, along with other items from store shelves, and then left the store.
Mr. Shoughi died as a result of the beating on April 17, 2022.