Ten days after a Queens grocery store clerk was shot to death by a
retired police officer, about 50 demonstrators demanded the immediate
arrest of the ex-cop last night and asked that the case be presented to
a grand jury. Chanting "No justice, no peace," the protesters called
for the arrest of John Malik, 60, a former detective who says the fatal
Oct. 18 shooting of Manuel Chametla, 18, was accidental. Councilman
Hiram Monserrate (D-Corona), who joined the demonstrators outside the
Queens County Courthouse in Kew Gardens, said he disagreed with
prosecutors' reasoning for not arresting Malik. "I hope there will be
charges against this individual," he said. "I would like justice for my
son," said Chametla's father, Noe Chametla, 46, of Jackson Heights. "He
was a very nice person, very outgoing." Manuel Chametla, a Mexican
immigrant who came to this country about two years ago, was shot in the
chest as he worked behind the counter at the Astoria Food Mart. Malik
told police his registered .380-mm pistol, which he carried on his hip,
dislodged and fired when he reached for his beeping pager. A law
enforcement source said that the night of the shooting, prosecutors
told police not to arrest Malik because more investigation was needed. [more]
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