Posted on: November 21, 2025 08:20 AM

Share : Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp

Man is jailed after shooting dead mugger who tried to rob him

A 67-year-old man who fatally shot a would-be mugger during a robbery gone wrong has been jailed for four years.

Charles Foehner, from Queens, New York, appeared stone-faced as he arrived at Queens County Criminal Court Thursday morning for sentencing.

Foehner, a retired doorman, was walking to a parking garage outside his Queens apartment when the alleged mugger lunged at him with a sharp object about 2am on May 31, 2023.

The suspected robber, identified as 32-year-old Cody Gonzalez, demanded money during the late-night exchange, prompting Foehner to whip out a firearm and fatally blast the assailant.

It later emerged that Gonzalez, who had more than a dozen prior arrests, was not armed during the altercation. Instead, he was holding a pen.

After killing Gonzalez on the spot, Foehner was charged with 26 counts of criminal possession of a weapon, but did not receive any charges related to the fatal shooting.

The entire confrontation was captured by a surveillance camera in a driveway outside Foehner's apartment building in the quiet neighborhood of Kew Gardens in Queens, where he had lived with his wife, Jenny Speed.

Chilling video footage of the ordeal showed Gonzalez approach Foehner down the driveway before shots were fired from a distance of about eight feet.