Hero Queens pizzeria owner, dad stabbed repeatedly trying to stop robbery
A heroic pizzeria owner and his father are fighting for their lives after being stabbed multiple times when they jumped in to stop a 61-year-old woman from being robbed outside their Queens restaurant, relatives and police told The Post on Tuesday.
Louie Suljovic, a 38-year-old military veteran, was working behind the counter of his Elmhurst pizzeria, Louie’s, when he and his father, Cazim Suljovic, saw the elderly woman being robbed by two men Saturday night.
Without hesitation, Suljovic and his 68-year-old father jumped in to help — but ended up being stabbed and struck with an unidentified object, cops said.
The father was stabbed nine times and both he and his son suffered punctured lungs in the attack, according to prosecutors and a relative.
The woman was also stabbed by one of the assailants, noticing a knife wound to her back after the robbery, it was revealed in Queens Criminal Court on Tuesday night.
“Cazim is in a serious situation … Louie is improving, he’s hanging in there and I believe he’s going to be okay,” said Cazim’s cousin, Remzija.
“They are heroes,” she added. “They jumped in to save a stranger.”
The elderly female victim told cops the suspects had approached her from behind, pushed her and ripped her bag away in the lead-up to the stabbing frenzy.
Officers managed to arrest two suspects when they arrived at about 9 p.m., while other responding cops gave the two victims medical aid.
Robert Whack, 30, and 18-year-old Supreme Gooding were taken into custody over the attack. Both were charged with robbery, assault and criminal possession of a weapon. Gooding was also arraigned Tuesday night on an attempted murder charge.
Whack was also found with a large amount of what cops believe was heroin and was hit with a criminal possession of a controlled substance charge, police said.
The father and son are being treated at Elmhurst Hospital — the same facility where the pizzeria donated meals to staff and first responders during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“He and his father are among the very best New York has to offer. We thank them for their bravery and wish them a speedy recovery,” police at the 110th Precinct tweeted.
A GoFundMe set up to help the two victims with their medical expenses had raised more than $48,000 as of Tuesday.
The pizzeria is closed while Suljovic and his father recover, the fundraising page said.
Whack was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on Monday but didn’t post his $250,000 cash bond, records show.
Gooding was arraigned on three cases Tuesday night and ordered held on $250,000 cash bail for his alleged attack on the trio outside the pizzeria Saturday night.
“The court has before it a young man charged with three serious offenses … three individuals were stabbed, two individuals suffered a collapsed lung,” Judge Diego Freire said at the teen’s arraignment.
Gooding and Whack have worked together in the past to allegedly attack and terrorize other Queens residents, according to criminal complaints against them.
The duo was involved in the vicious beatdown of a man outside 89-39 Elmhurst Avenue on March 21, court docs said. They were hit with several charges for that incident, including assault, harassment and criminal possession of a weapon.
The pair were also charged with grand larceny for allegedly snatching a purse containing $2,500 from a 75-year-old woman outside of her apartment building on 64th Street near 39th Avenue on March 16, according to the complaint.
