Clashes over $20 loan lead to fatal injury in Queens, ex-girlfriend of victim arrested

Police said Tuesday a suspect was detained for stabbing his ex-girlfriend’s boyfriend to death during a confrontation in Queens over a $20 loan.

Semar Taylor was arrested on Monday for the Feb. 27 murder of Michael Izquierdo’s young father, police said. Police said Taylor had already been arrested once for petty assault in Brooklyn in 2018.

The 25-year-old victim, who lived in Bedford-Stuyvesant, drove with her girlfriend to 97th Avenue and 98th Street in Ozone Park to meet Taylor, who wanted the $20 his ex owed him, police said.

Izquierdo confronted Taylor, also 25, on behalf of his girlfriend, and the two men had an argument before the victim was stabbed in the chest.

According to police, the killer fled and Izquierdo drove off in his Outback SUV, leaving his girlfriend at the scene.

He only drove a few blocks before he crashed while driving on Woodhaven Boulevard. and Atlantic Avenue.

During the trip, he called a friend and said that he had been stabbed to death. A friend called 911 and the police arrived on the scene.

Medics took the victim to a hospital in Jamaica.

A friend, meanwhile, went to the 106th precinct to report what had happened. Police quickly located Taylor, who lives less than a mile from the crime scene.

Initially, Izquierdo’s condition was stable, but he worsened over the next few hours and died early the next morning, police said.

Anthony Lojano, Izquierdo’s stepfather, visited a Jamaican hospital and realized that his stepson was getting worse.

“When I ask the nurse to ask Mike Izquierdo, she looked and then just left,” Lojano, 40, told The News shortly after Izquierdo died.

According to him, Izquierdo’s mother was overcome with grief after the death of her only son.

“Sometimes she cries,” he said. “You can’t imagine it.

Izquierdo’s aunt, Luz Vallejo, lives in Spain, but rushed to New York after learning of her nephew’s death.

Vallejo left New York when Izquierdo was 12 or 13, but after talking to his friends, she wishes she had more time to get to know her sister’s child.

“I was very surprised to hear what his friends were saying about him,” Vallejo, 49, said. “Just listening to stories, seeing Instagram pages (about how much they loved him. It just proves that he was a great kid.”

According to Vallejo, Izquierdo has a three-year-old daughter.

“She is very smart for her age,” she said of the baby. “I find it amazing how quickly she learned and how much she knows. (He was) extremely likable to his daughter.”