While Awaiting Trial, Accused "Duck Sauce Killer" Takes His Own Life

The Amherst co-op's grim ordeal is over. Glenn Hirsch, 51, who was freed on a $500,000 cash bail and allowed to return to his apartment in the Queens co-op while awaiting trial on murder charges, was found dead in his apartment on Friday, the apparent victim of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, The New York Times reports.

Hirsch was charged with fatally shooting Zhiwen Yan, a father of three who had worked as a delivery driver for more than two decades at the Great Wall, a Chinese restaurant in Forest Hills. The shooting followed a dispute when Hirsch claimed he was shorted on duck sauce in an order from the Great Wall. The tabloids dubbed him "the Duck Sauce Killer."

Hirsch pleaded not guilty and was facing up to life in prison if convicted on the murder charge. After posting bail in June, Hirsch was allowed to return to his apartment in the Amherst, provided he wore an ankle bracelet and left the building only to visit his doctor, his attorney and the courts. His return caused an uproar in the 250-unit co-op, located in Jamaica, Queens.

"People are very upset in this building, they're frightened," the co-op's attorney, Abbey Goldstein, a partner at Goldstein Greenlaw, told Habitat when Hirsch returned to the co-op. “They have in their midst a man who’s been charged with intentional murder. This is a mentally unhinged man. How do you put him in a building with hundreds of residents, including children?”

When protests to the Queens district attorney proved futile, the co-op board took prompt measures to beef up security, adding security cameras to keep track of Hirsch’s comings and goings, and posting a staff member in the lobby to keep the press and non-residents from entering the complex. In a letter to shareholders, the board stated: “We request that residents assist by not allowing access to anyone they do not recognize.”

The heightened security was understandable. The Great Wall’s owner told The New York Post that Hirsch had repeatedly harassed him and his workers, claiming the accused killer vandalized his car and showed up at the eatery with a gun in January.

Arthur Aidala, Hirsch's attorney, tells the Times: “Glenn Hirsch and I had an excellent relationship, and it saddens me that he took this route when we were very well prepared to fight this in the courtroom. He consistently maintained his innocence.”

Robert Ast of Aras Properties, the Amherst's property manager, said Monday that neither he nor the co-op board had a comment on the case.