Queens atty stabbed to death in office
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Queens immigration attorney Jim Li was allegedly stabbed to death in his Flushing office by a prospective client on Monday, March 14, 2022. Photo via Jim Li and Associates
By Jacob Kaye
A Queens immigration attorney who sought asylum in the U.S. in the 1990s after being jailed by the Chinese government, was fatally stabbed in his Flushing office Monday.
Jim Li, a 66-year-old lawyer who lived in Great Neck, was pronounced dead on March 14, after allegedly being stabbed by a prospective client in his office at 136-56 39 Ave., according to the police.
Xiaoning Zhang, a 25-year-old woman who lives in Flushing, was arrested at the scene, cops said.
The stabbing took place around 11:45 a.m. – shortly after, NYPD officers arrived to find Li unconscious and unresponsive with stab wounds to his body and neck. Li was taken to Elmhurst Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to the authorities.
Zhang was allegedly in the U.S. on an F-1 student visa and preparing to go to school in California, according to reporting by the Daily News. The attack allegedly happened after Li refused to bring Zhang on as a client, according to the outlet.
Li opened his practice in New York in 1998, shortly after arriving in the U.S. as an asylum seeker. The attorney had been jailed in China for several years for participating in the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests in 1989.
Throughout his over two decades of practice, Li primarily focused on immigration law, serving a number of Chinese immigrants in their efforts to live in the U.S., many of whom came over to the country as students.
Additionally, Li practiced in criminal and civil proceedings at both the state and federal level, where he argued federal immigration appeals and lawsuits concerning wage arrears and labor conditions, according to his firm’s website.
Frank Bruno, an attorney and president of the Queens County Bar Association, said that he was “stunned” to hear of Li’s killing.
“We grieve for Mr. Li and keep his family and friends in our thoughts,” Bruno said in a statement. “The Queens County Bar Association stands for all lawyers in our community to provide support where needed and to take a leading role when possible.”
“The Queens County Bar Association condemns, in the strongest terms possible, all acts of violence, including Mr. Li’s murder and other high-profile incidents over the past several days including the stabbing of two workers at the Museum of Modern Art, the shootings of multiple homeless men in Washington, DC and New York City, the attacking of an Asian woman in the vestibule of her Yonkers apartment, and others,” he added. “These senseless acts deny each of us the sense of safety and stability we desire and are contrary to what should be expected in a civilized society.”
Bruno said that he encouraged attorneys in the borough to be “vigilant in your personal safety.”
Li is the second Queens attorney to be attacked and killed in the past year.
In August, 65-year-old Charles Zolot, who practiced in Jackson Heights, was allegedly stabbed nearly two dozen times by Nando Perez, a former client.
Perez pleaded not guilty to the murder charges in September and was sent for psychiatric treatment last month.
The Queens district attorney’s office told the Eagle that the arraignment of Zhang, who faces murder charges and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, is currently pending.
