Two teenagers have been charged with second-degree murder after they went searching for an Asian man to rob and ended up choking the life out of their eventual victim, whom they left on the side of the road. After committing a similar robbery a month ago, 16-year-old Corey Azor and 17-year-old Chris Levy were hunting for a new target in Flushing, where the two attend high school (in separate schools). They came upon 49-year-old David Kao, who was dozing off in the driver's seat of an SUV while parked on the street. According to the News, Levy admitted to cops that "he and Azor climbed into the car, put Kao into a choke hold and dragged him into the backseat, where they beat him until he was unconscious." They then took his credit cards and dumped him out a few blocks away.
A security video of the robbery led cops to the two suspects. Azor, the step-son of an NYPD officer, quickly confessed to the crime and implicated his cohort. Levy then confessed that he put Kao "in a headlock and pulled him over the seat into the backseat. I continued to hold him in the headlock and punch him in the face, and then he stopped moving."
Kao lived in Elmhurst and worked in sales and wrote for World News, the largest Chinese daily paper in the US. He had a 21-year-old daughter attending college in Taiwan. At the time of the robbery, he was parked in his sister's SUV outside of his ex-wife's home. One co-worker described him as "a humble guy who brings happiness to everybody." Another said to WABC 7, "If you want money, take money. If you want the car, take the car. Why do you have to kill him?"
According to the Post, the two teenagers "split the $115 they found in his wallet and went joyriding with a gaggle of teen friends in Kao's car for two days." When brought in by police, the pair also admitted to a robbery of another Asian man on May 27th, whom they also put a choke hold while in the elevator of the man's Flushing building. A third teen was implicated in that robbery.
A neighbor of Levy told the News, "He's a very, very good kid. He's always been nice and polite. Corey is not a killer." Levy and Azor are currently being held without bail.
