"By all accounts, Rupinder Singh would help anyone who passed his way," said Queens Borough President Claire Shulman. "His generosity of spirit cost him his life and for that we all mourn."
St. Johns offered a memorial mass Tuesday in memory of Singh, a member of the Class of 2000, who was graduated in January. Some 200 persons, including Shulman and the victims sister, Grupreet Kaur Singh, and uncle, Lucky Singh, attended the service in Our Lady of Lourdes Chapel on the Queens campus.
Moving quickly on a tip, police arrested in Crown Heights Sunday James Johnson and his companion, Darshen Kingsberry, both 26 and both of Atlanta.
A day later Jack Govan, 27, of Brooklyn and Philadelphia, turned himself in at Brooklyns 77th Precinct. He told police,"Im the guy youre looking for," adding he "had nowhere to go." His photo was prominently displayed in the news media Monday.
Johnson was arraigned Monday in Brooklyn Criminal Court and held without bail on charges of first and second degree murder, first degree robbery and criminal possession of a weapon. Police forensics experts that day reportedly determined Johnson fired the fatal shot.
Kingsberry was charged with possession of stolen property the Singh familys Lincoln Navigator sport utility vehicle unauthorized use of a vehicle, evidence tampering and other counts. Her bail was set at $100,000. Her four-year-old daughter was placed with relatives.
Govan also was charged Monday with second degree murder, criminal possession of a weapon and robbery.
Authorities have not identified the second woman with the group at the gas station "because she has not been charged."
While the victims family called for the death penalty for Johnson and Govan regardless of which man did the shooting, William H. Allee, Jr., chief of detectives, said Monday night that decision will be made by the district attorneys office on the basis of statements by the defendants and other evidence.
Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes reportedly said the same day he would seek the death penalty for Johnson and Govan if Singh was shot while pleading for his life. Under state law, first degree murder committed in the course of a robbery is considered a capital offense.
At a press conference Sunday, Chief Allee outlined the sequence of events leading to the shooting and first arrests.
Last Thursday evening Singh drove the Navigator to Brooklyn to drop off his 22-year-old sister, Grupreet Kaur, with a friend. He then stopped at his uncles house in the Ocean Pkwy. section of Brooklyn but did not stay overnight because his mother wanted the SUV back for her other son to use the next day.
Stopping at a gas station off the Belt Pkwy., he saw Johnson, Govan, Kingsberry, her four-year-old daughter and an unidentified woman with their disabled sedan and offered to help them.
"They needed a car and they wanted a car," Chief Allee said Monday. "Apparently Mr. Singh did not matter to them."
Once in the SUV, the chief said, Johnson and Govan ordered Singh to drive them to Lincoln Terrace Park, at Eastern Pkwy. and Buffalo St. in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Nearby residents called police at 3:15 a.m. to report gun shots. Police later found Singhs body, with no identification, in the park.
"We believe he pleaded for mercy" said Chief Allee. "He pleaded for his life. This was a monstrous act committed against a good Samaritan."
On Monday, the chief again commented on the shooting scene. "He was dragged out into the park. He pleaded for his life. He was shot in the head and left to die."
After the gunfire, witnesses told police they saw a black SUV leave the park. Later, a tip to police reported a couple attempting to sell a black Lincoln SUV in a Brooklyn chop shop.
The lead led to the arrest of Johnson and Kingsberry and the search for Govan. In announcing the hunt, Allee said, "We believe he is armed and obviously extremely dangerous."
Police found the SUV hidden near Lincoln Terrace Park and traced the vehicle to the victims mother, Amarjit Kaur.
The Singh family assumed Rupinder had returned home late and had left early Friday to be on time for his 6 a.m. moving job that day. When they did not see him Saturday, they called police.
Singh was the oldest of the three children of Sulakhan and Amarjit Kaur Singh. The father, 55, operates a construction company and his deceased son had worked for him part-time.
