Shop Owner Critical After Pipe Beating in Queens: Police

A 34-year-old shop owner is hospitalized in critical condition after being beaten with a metal pipe early Saturday morning outside his party supply store in Queens, police said.

Martin Quiej, owner of Tauros Party Supplies in Woodside, ran outside his shop to break up an argument between his co-worker and another man at about 1:45 a.m. when he was attacked with the pipe, investigators said. He was battered about the head and body.

Officers took a 21-year-old suspect into custody at the scene and recovered the pipe. Criminal charges are pending, police said.

Quiej was said to be in critical condition in Elmhurst Hospital Center.

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