Man charged with attempted murder in violent spree

Police charged Leonidas Cotsifas, 50, of Bethpage with attempted murder and several other crimes on Thursday afternoon after he allegedly struck a 71-year-old man on the head with a paving stone in his Nassau Street home in Bellmore, critically injuring him.

This was the last and most violent in a series of crimes that Cotsifas allegedly carried out within hours and blocks of one another in the community, including burglarizing another home and attempting a carjacking, according to authorities.

Police allege that Cotsifas began his spree at about 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 1 by threatening an 18-year-old woman in her home with a crowbar and robbing her of her laptop computer.

Cotsifas then ran from the young woman’s Centre Avenue home across Sunrise Highway to the nearby Valero gas station, where authorities say he unsuccessfully attempted to carjack a Chevy Trailblazer. The SUV’s driver was pumping gasoline while her 12-year-old son was sitting in the front passenger seat at the time. Unsuccessful in his attempt to steal the SUV, Cotsifas ran south on Centre Avenue, then west onto Nassau Street.

Inside a Nassau Street home, Cotsifas allegedly struck a 71-year-old man on the head with a paving stone, critically injuring him, police said. The suspect bound the man’s legs with an electrical cord and left him in the basement, according to authorities. "The suspect went in a bathroom," Nassau County Police Lt. Kevin Smith said. "He tried to change his appearance. He shaved his head and found a shirt to put on." Police captured and arrested Cotsifas at the Nassau Street house.

The elderly man suffered a fractured skull, brain bleeds, fractures to his spinal cord and ribs, and a broken jaw, police said. He was admitted to the intensive-care unit in critical condition, according to NUMC spokeswoman Shelly Lautenberg.

As a result of the seriousness of the victim’s injuries, Cotsifas was charged with attempted murder and unlawful imprisonment. He was also charged with five counts of burglary, two counts of weapons possession, attempted grand larceny of a motor vehicle and endangering the welfare of a child. He was to be arraigned in Nassau County criminal court on Friday.