The Guardian Angels are patrolling well-to-do Forest Hills following the shooting murder of a food deliveryman working for a local Chinese restaurant.
Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate for mayor last year, said it’s the first time in the civilian patrol’s 43-year history that it’s been asked to patrol the upper-middle-class Queens neighborhood.
Residents are rattled after Zhiwen Yan, 45, a deliveryman for Great Wall restaurant, was shot dead while making a delivery near 108th Street and 67th Drive on Saturday in what is believed to be a dispute with an angry customer.
“The killing of the deliveryman has people on edge. It’s a sign of the times,” Sliwa said.
“The neighborhood is upset that they’re not getting responses from the police so we’re giving them our contact as an alternative.”
He said Stefano Loudaros-Forte, a GOP candidate for state Senate, also appealed to the Angels for help in protecting the neighborhood.
The first Guardian Angels patrol gathered outside the Great Wall restaurant on Queens Boulevard where Yan worked.
It’s the second homicide in posh Forest Hills in a matter of weeks.
Last month, a handyman stabbed a Forest Hills woman to death inside her home.
Last year, the Guardian Angels started patrolling neighboring Kew Gardens after a young man was shot and killed in front of the notorious Umbrella hotel, located right across from Queens Borough Hall.
The hotel had been the subject of hundreds of complaints from residents about patrons renting rooms suspected of or engaging in drug dealing and prostitution, and former Mayor Bill de Blasio only moved to shutter it after the murder.
Sliwa also said the Guardian Angels recently set up patrols in the middle-class neighborhood of Bay Ridge in Brooklyn, following complaints of a rise in crime.
“These are neighborhoods we’ve never had to patrol before,” Sliwa said.
Forest Hills residents welcomed the red-beret clad volunteer patrols with open arms.
“We need you desperately and I can not thank you all enough. God bless you and thank you for keeping us safe.” said an elderly woman who greeted the Guardian Angels.
A concerned mom said, “Nice to have you around because it’s been crazy. The delivery guy who was shot, the woman chopped up. I have a 14 year old, she walks to school in the morning and she’s like ‘mom I’m scared.'”
Said another mom with three three children, “This is amazing and sad at the same time. For a neighborhood like Forest Hills to need patrol officers walking around, it’s sickening. I mean there are worse neighborhoods but damn. We’re in crazy times. I’m grateful because I have young kids .”
Resident Lora Shapiro said she knew the slain delivery man, Zhiwn Yan, who was popular in the neighborhood.
“He was always great. He always told everyone ‘my friend. It’s nice to see you.’ It’s really heartbreaking,” Shapiro said.
“He delivered for many merchants in the neighborhood. Not just here so everyone knew him,” he said of the Chinese restaurant.
“This is great,” Shapiro said of the volunteer patrols. “They’re protecting the community.”
Sliwa also had a message for Mayor Eric Adams, the self-described “swagger” man.
“Enough with the swagger. We know you’re a fashionista,” said Sliwa, whom Democrat Adams, a retired police captain, easily defeated in the general election.
“It’s time to dig in. The swagger man has no plan. He better get to work.”
A City Hall spokesman said Adams is “laser-focused” on tackling crime after a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday found a majority of city voters disapprove of his job performance on the issue.
