Man Who Slammed 6-Year-Old Into Ground Guilty Of Attempted Murder: DA

QUEENS, NY — A Queens man who slammed a 6-year-old boy headfirst into the pavement and fractured the child's skull has been found guilty of attempted murder, prosecutors said.

Jurors convicted Laurence Gendreau, 39, of Richmond Hill, on a slew of charges in a trial that ended Wednesday, authorities said.

Gendreau brutally attacked a boy, 6, who was standing outside his grandparents' Kew Gardens home waiting for a pizza delivery Oct. 10, 2019, prosecutors said.

“This senseless and brutal attack left a young boy seriously injured and a community shocked," said Melinda Katz, district attorney for Queens. "We all deserve to feel safe in our homes and while walking the streets of our neighborhoods."

The attack was part of a daylong spree of violent, erratic behavior by Gendreau, authorities said.

Gendreau stole an iPad that day from an 83-year-old woman's hands after he walked up to and sat next to her outside near Union Turnpike, prosecutors said.

Two hours later, Gendreau walked past the boy and suddenly charged the child, yelling at him, according to a Queens district attorney's office release. He lifted the boy over his head and slammed him down onto the pavement, before he ran off, leaving the child motionless on the ground, prosecutors said.

The boy's brother ran inside and told his family, prompting their grandfather to chase after Gendreau and flag down a police officer, who stopped Gendreau near Lefferts Boulevard and Metropolitan Avenue, authorities said. Police found the elderly woman's stolen iPad on him when they arrested him, prosecutors said.

The child went to the hospital, where he was treated for a fractured skull, bleeding on the brain and collapsed lung, prosecutors said. He has recovered from his injuries, authorities said.

Gendreau was found guilty of attempted murder in the second degree, first-degree assault, two counts of endangering a child's welfare, fourth-degree grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property in the fifth degree. He faces up to 25 years in prison when he is sentenced Oct. 12.