Man Throws Molotovs At Whitestone School

A 22-year-old man twice last week threw bottles filled with a flammable liquid on the front steps and at a wall of the junior high school he is said to have attended as a young teenager, although school officials could not confirm this. Konstantinos Mavrikos, whose address was given as 149-16 19th Ave., at about 5 p.m. on Thursday, March 6, threw a bottle of a liquid at a wall of J.H.S. 194, the William Carr School, while students were attending an after school program. The bottle exploded and the wall was charred. Mavrikos fled, but returned on Friday, March 7 and at about 12:56 p.m. threw another bottle of flammable liquid on the front steps of the school.

An onlooker wrote down Mavrikos' license plate number and police quickly traced him to his home, which is several blocks from the school. He was arrested at 1:30 p.m., about an hour after he threw the bottle on Friday.

Police of the 109th Precinct charged him with arson, criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child, the last charge because children were in the school at the time of the incidents.

The school's principal, Anne Marie Iannizzi, issued a statement on Friday noting that at no time were students or school staff in any danger, that police had made an arrest almost immediately and that students were dismissed in an orderly fashion. "I wish to thank the students, staff and parents for their cooperation and am proud of the way everyone responded to this emergency," her e-mail read. "I will send another letter home with students on Monday and will also do a phone message to all homes this evening."

- Linda J. Wilson and

Liz Goff