Wash Heights Man Indicted In Slaying Of Neighbor, Dog: DA

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY - A Washington Heights man was indicted Tuesday for his alleged role in the fatal shooting of his neighbor, her friend and a dog in September.

Lenue Moore, 32, was indicted on murder and weapons charges in connection with the shooting near Highbridge Park that killed 57-year-old Washington Heights resident Jacqueline Billini, 42-year-old Levaughn Harvin and Billini’s dog Zeus, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr. said in a statement.

“As alleged, Lenue Moore tracked down and fired multiple shots at Jacqueline Billini, Harvin Levaughn and a dog in a vicious act of cruelty after Ms. Billini appropriately reported Mr. Moore to law enforcement for previous alleged acts of violence,” Bragg said in a statement. “Two beloved New Yorkers are dead, and my thoughts are with their utterly devastated family members in their ongoing grief. The presence of a gun makes any situation far more likely to turn lethal, and ridding our streets of illegal firearms and the violence they bring remains my top priority as district attorney.”

More and Billini, who lived in the same apartment building on West 163 Street, had an ongoing dispute over noise that lasted for months, according to court documents and statements made on the record in court.

At about 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 29, Billini was walking her dogs with her friend Harvin near West 165th Street and Edgecombe Avenue when Moore fired about 12 shots at the duo, Bragg said.

The bullets struck Billini in the back of the head, killing her, and struck Harvin in the neck, damaging “major blood vessels” and killing him, Bragg said. One of the dogs, Zeus, was also fatally shot in the upper portion of his back.

Following the shooting, Moore fled on Amsterdam Avenue and boarded a southbound M101 bus. NYPD officers tracked him on Oct. 10 to an apartment in Queens, executed a court-authorized search warrant and recovered a firearm allegedly used in the murder, though Moore was not inside the apartment at the time, Bragg said.

Police tracked Moore down to an apartment in Brooklyn on Oct. 26 where he was found hiding under a bed and was subsequently arrested, Bragg said.

Back in April, Moore broke Billini’s arm and injured another individual while trying to kick in her apartment door, Bragg said. He also injured a third individual while swinging a hammer through a crack in the door during the same incident.

Shortly after the break-in, orders of protection against Moore were issued for all three victims, Bragg said. The same month, Moore was charged in a New York State Supreme Court indictment with burglary and assault.

Those allegations are pending in court, Bragg said.