Killed Forest Hills Delivery Worker Honored In Lunar New Year Event

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS — The Asian deliveryman who was shot dead last year will be honored in a Lunar New Year event hosted by a Forest Hills hospital this weekend at the restaurant where he died.

Long Island Jewish will hold the event on Saturday, Feb. 11, at 2 p.m. at the Great Wall restaurant located at 10437 Queens Boulevard, where deliveryman Zhiwen Yan worked and was shot dead last year.

Yan, 45, was out making deliveries on his scooter near 108th Street and 67 Drive about 9:35 p.m. when he was shot in the chest in April 2022. The man accused of the shooting, Glenn Hirsch, was released on bail in June 2022.

The event will stand against anti-Asian crimes and honor the start of the Year of the Rabbit with a traditional lion dance performance.

Yan's family, Rep. Grace Meng, Borough President Donovan Richards, Councilwoman Lynn Schulman, and other lawmakers will attend the event along with the Forest Hills Asian Association and the Coalition of Asian-Americans for Civil Rights.

The affair was originally scheduled for Jan. 28, but was postponed.

The hospital's executive director, Lorraine Chambers Lewis, will lead attendess on a one-mile stretch of Queens Boulevard and Austin Street where she will distribute red envelopes to Asian-American businesses along the route. Red envelopes are a traditional gift symbolizing good wishes and luck for the coming year.

“This is our community,” said Chambers-Lewis. “The majority of our hospital staff, including physicians and nurses, live in Queens and we stand in celebration and solidarity with our Asian-American community members.”