A convicted killer released from prison five years ago for shooting an innocent bystander at a Queens drag race has now been nabbed in another slay — stabbing a bouncer breaking up a fight at a Brooklyn nightspot earlier this year, the Daily News has learned.
Though 26 years apart, the killings share disturbing parallels. Jose Feliciano is accused of knifing the bouncer in the neck for trying to break up a fight and in 1998 he shot a man trying to defuse a clash at the drag race.
Feliciano, 49, was brought back to Brooklyn last month to face justice after he went on the run for months in the wake of the killing of Laurence Hopkins, who worked security at the Garden Bar & Grill in East Williamsburg, according to authorities.
Hopkins was on the job eating a plate of chicken wings on Feb. 10 when a woman he works with tried to squeeze past the killer and another customer, according to cops.
That led to a fight, so Hopkins got up to cool down the argument. But Feliciano allegedly pulled out a knife and plunged it deep into the bouncer’s neck, splicing through his tongue, cops said. He also stabbed him in the armpit and chest, cops said.