Murder at Rutgers
A gunman shot two victims, killing one of them, around 5 a.m. Sun., Feb. 21 in the lobby of a Rutgers Houses building on Pike and Cherry Sts., police said. Curtis James, 29, was shot in the face and pronounced dead at the scene. The other victim, 19, whom police did not identify further, was taken to Bellevue Hospital in critical condition with a bullet wound in his torso. The shooting came after a dispute, but police did not say the reason for the argument. James’s girlfriend is seven-months pregnant, according to a Daily News item. There were no arrests by press time Wed., Feb. 24.

Sentencing in B.P.C. death
Justice Charles Solomon sentenced Martin Abreu, a former Jersey City police officer, to three-and-a-half to 10 years in prison on Tues., Feb. 23 for aggravated vehicular manslaughter in the drunk driving death last year of Marilyn Feng, a recent law school graduate as she was crossing West St. with her boyfriend to her Battery Park City home.

Feng, who lived at 200 Rector Pl., died at the scene on West St. and Albany St. during the early hours of Sat., Feb. 8, 2009 and her boy friend, Dennis Lofreddo suffered leg and head injuries but survived. Abreu was arrested at the scene and pleaded guilty to the manslaughter charge in December 2009.

D.O.A.
Police responded to a 911 call about an unconscious woman at 7 p.m. Sat., Feb. 20 inside an apartment in the Bialystoker residence, 15 Willett St., on the Lower East Side. The victim, whom police described only as white and 54 years old, was declared dead at the scene by an Emergency Medical Service team. The Medical Examiner is investigating the cause of death and her identification is pending family notification.

Burglar flees
The manager of a bar at the corner of W. Houston and Wooster Sts. scared off an unidentified burglar whom he found prowling in an office in the back of the bar just after midnight Sun., Feb. 21, police said.

Labor violations
State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo on Tues., Feb. 23 charged the owner of seven budget clothing stores, including two in Lower Manhattan, with underpaying employees and falsifying business records.

David Cohen, owner of three Mystique Boutique shops, including one at 547 Broadway in Soho, and four other stores, including Madness Boutique at 305 Canal St. in Chinatown, faces multiple counts of falsifying records, refusing to pay overtime, paying workers less than minimum wage and threatening workers for reporting violations to state officials.

Cuomo indicated that he would seek to recover $1.5 million from Cohen in unpaid wages for more than 150 employees. Cohen’s lawyer, Laura A. Brevetti, issued a statement saying the defendant cooperated fully with the investigation. “David Cohen intends to defend these charges vigorously,” Brevetti said.

Lost in Starbucks
A woman, 28, who was talking to a friend at Starbucks on Varick St. at Spring St., around 2 p.m. Wed., Feb 10, turned to find her bag, which she had put on the table next to her 20 minutes earlier, was stolen, police said. Her Canadian driver’s license, iPod, cell phone and credit cards were in the bag.

Lock thief
A man walked into the unlocked lobby of a building at 9 Broadway at 4:48 a.m. Mon., Feb. 8, removed the lock cylinder of the Radio Shack shop in the lobby but left without taking anything, police said.

— Albert Amateau