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A 65-year-old Queens senior defended himself from a would-be mugger at 2 a.m. — and now he’s going to prison for four years. Charles Foehner was walking back to his apartment after buying cigarettes when Cody Gonzalez, a 32-year-old with a long criminal record, demanded his phone and a cigarette. When Gonzalez lunged at him with what Foehner believed was a knife, the retired doorman fired a single shot in self-defense. The attacker died. Foehner called 911. Security cameras backed his story. Prosecutors did not charge him with the killing. But during the investigation, police searched his apartment and found unregistered firearms and ammunition. For that — not for the shooting — Foehner was sentenced to four years in prison. Now the man who survived a street attack will spend his final years behind bars, while admitting the painful truth himself: “A guy is dead because of me… maybe I should have taken the beating — but who knows where the beating stops.” This is New York. Where defending yourself can ruin your life. Where criminals roam free — and seniors pay the price.