Queens man hurt in mail blast still in critical condition, NYPD says
NYPD and FDNY officials examine a Queens home where a canister exploded on Friday, July 28, 2017. Credit: Jim Staubitser
A 73-year-old landlord who was hospitalized after an explosive canister blew up on his Queens property remained in critical condition Sunday as authorities continued investigating the incident.
George Wray, who owns a two-family house at 222nd Street near 145th Road, suffered burns over 80 percent of his body when he opened a package outside the home Friday, an NYPD spokesman said. He is hospitalized at Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow.
The package, which police described as about the size and dimension of a Quaker Oats can, detonated about 4:15 p.m. Friday, but on Sunday, the NYPD spokesman said authorities were still trying to determine who left the package there and why. The package contained black explosive powder but no shrapnel.
Police said during a news conference Friday that the package had been sitting outside for about a week at a home in the Brookville neighborhood, located just west of Valley Stream and the Five Towns.
Authorities have declined to say whether anything was written on the package.
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