Bomb blast that killed Queens man meant for NYPD officers, officials say

A Brooklyn man who nursed a hatred for NYPD officers who once arrested him was taken into custody Wednesday on charges he planted a crude bomb that killed a Queens man in August — an explosive allegedly left in the mistaken belief that a cop would be hurt, officials said.

Victor Kingsley, 37, was arrested by members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force at his home on East 43rd Street in the Prospect-Lefferts Gardens section of Brooklyn on charges he planted the crude device that severely injured and killed George Wray, 73, according to the FBI and NYPD. Kingsley was charged with one count of using a weapon of mass destruction.

Wray suffered extensive burns from the July 28, 2017, explosion that occurred after he opened the package, about the size of cylindrical cereal container, he found on the porch of his home at 222nd Street in Jamaica. He died at Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow on Aug. 1. Wray had no connection to the NYPD, police said.

“Kingsley’s cowardly act was meant to target a New York City Police Officer for doing his job and resulted in the tragic death of an unintended victim,” NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill said in a prepared statement.

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