A tarot card reader was killed by her client after he believed she was a witch. The 51-year-old psychic was shot down in her home. Sources told The Post, Thursday, that police believe she was killed by a customer who was upset and believed he was cursed by the woman.
According to sources, allegedly, Giuseppe Canzani admitted to shooting Anna Torres after answering the door to her Ozone Park home around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday “because she was a witch.”
One source said Canzani was convinced that a spell had been cast on him by the clairvoyant who performed fortune and tarot card readings out of her home.
“Yeah, that’s the woman I shot,” Canzani allegedly told detectives at the 106th Precinct station house about one hour after the fatal shooting at the home on 109th Avenue. “They tried to kill me.”
“If I tell you what’s going on with me, you wouldn’t believe it,” he allegedly said. “Not for nothing, I am supposed to be dead already, that’s all I know. This woman, you guys will never understand. You would think I’m crazy.”
Her daughter told investigators, that sometime prior to the deadly confrontation, Torres, the mother of an NYPD cop, had gotten into a huge fight with a client known as “Joey.”
The victim’s distraught husband, David Aguilar, said he learned about Torres’ death on the news.
“I was at work, and I seen it on the news,” he told reporters while on his way to the city morgue Thursday. “I said, ‘Hold up. That looks like my house.’ It was.
“He smashed my world,” he added with tears. “I’ve never seen him before. I wish I was able to get to him right now but I can’t.”
The wife and mother “didn’t have a bad bone in her body,” the heartbroken hubby said.
“She was the best wife, the best mother,” he said, bursting into tears. “I want to know why he did that. I’m lost without her.”
Sources said, at the time of the shooting, police said two family members were inside the home.
At least one of the two shots fired struck Torres in the head, sources said.
“Just looking out the window I heard the shots and after that you hear the screams,” neighbor Michael Persaud told The Post. “Right after you heard the pop, pop, pop, you hear the screaming. It was muffled.”
Another woman emerged from the house yelling for police, Persaud said. After the shooting, chilling surveillance video shows the gunman fleeing in a black Chevy Traverse, NYPD Deputy Chief Jerry O’Sullivan said during a press briefing Wednesday night.
Sources said, Canzani, who is married and resides in Howard Beach, drove to the 106th Precinct station house about an hour later, placed a .45-caliber handgun on the sidewalk, and surrendered to police.
O’Sullivan told reporters at the briefing, that the suspect was taken into custody without incident by two officers standing outside.
Detectives questioned Canzani who allegedly gave a chilling confession before he was charged with murder and criminal possession of a loaded weapon.
“I killed her because she was a witch,” he allegedly told cops.
Canzani has no prior record, police said.
As he was escorted from the precinct into a police car Thursday afternoon and driven to court for his arraignment, which is expected to occur later in the evening, the accused killer remained silent.
Canzani and Torres knew each other “to some extent,” however, the relationship does not seem to be romantic, police acknowledged.
The incident marks the first fatal shooting in the 106th Precinct this year. According to police, three others were shot and killed within the precinct boundaries, last year.
The violence stunned residents in the close-knit community. A week ago Canzani may have threatened the family, said one neighbor.
Vick, who declined to give his last name and others, saw the alleged shooter and his car in the area before.
“I heard the family was threatened a few weeks ago by this guy, that he’s going to shoot somebody in the house, and the guy finally did something. I can’t say what it was for, I don’t have that information.”
The family was friendly and known for hosting barbecues, said neighbors.
“As far as the fortune-telling, I know that she used to read the cards,” Torres neighbor Anthony Archibald said. “But I didn’t know if she did it for people. She never asked me to do it.
“She is a really quiet lady,” he said. “She’s really nice to everybody in this neighborhood. Plus, who’s gonna want to shoot a police officer’s mom? It just don’t make no sense at all.”