Queens Lawyer Was Allegedly Stabbed to Death by Client: NYPD

Police have arrested a man accused of stabbing his lawyer to death last week in Queens.

Authorities on Monday arrested Nando Perez of the Bronx in connection to the murder of 65-year-old Charles Zolot, a Queens lawyer who specialized in divorces and child custody cases. The NYPD said Perez, 64, is a client of Zolot but didn’t provide other details.

Perez was charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon, police said.

A janitor found Zolot unconscious on Thursday, Aug. 5, at his law office on 82nd Street in Jackson Heights, according to police. Law enforcement sources told NBC New York that the family attorney had been stabbed in the chest and first responders pronounced him dead at the scene.

One attorney described Zolot as “very likeable” and “not at all kind of guy that would have an enemy or agitate anybody.”

“The secretaries are really upset. It’s scary. We have cameras on the floor so we asked for that. I think they have pictures of what’s going inside and I think someone saw blood by the elevator,” he said.

Friends and neighbors say Zolot lived alone and was always kind.

“Never had an attitude. Never caused a problem in the building. Always very nice,” Charlie Reyes said.

Police sources said investigators were looking for two men who left Zolot’s office that afternoon, but so far, only Perez is in police custody. No other information was immediately available and an investigation is ongoing.