Three Murdered In Cambria Heights Killing Spree

A 13-year-old boy coming home from school to eat lunch found his aunt lying dead on the kitchen floor with a gunshot wound to the head on Monday. The boy ran across the street to call 911 and authorities found his parents bodies shot dead on the basement floor, the mother bound with duct tape in their two-story house on 120th Avenue in Cambria Heights. Queens District Attorney Richard Brown, whose office is handling the case, said the killings took place between 7:30 a.m., when Kadeem, the young teen, left for school, and noon on Monday when he returned.
The victims bodies were identified as the boys aunt, Tisha Chambers, 21, his mother, Carren Chambers,36, and his father, Lary Barnes, 46. As of Tuesday evening when The Courier went to press, no suspects had been identified, but detectives were investigating whether the killings were drug-related. Whoever committed the murders searched the house thoroughly. Desk drawers were pulled out and the eaves the overhanging lower edges of the roof were examined, according to law enforcement officials.
Family and friends lining 120th Avenue said the house had been burglarized last Tuesday, with jewelry and athletic jerseys taken. Reports have also surfaced that a car Chambers frequently drove, and which belongs to a relative, was recently pulled over and marijuana found inside.
The family expressed outrage and remorse over the execution-style murders that had turned the quiet, well-kept community into a clutter of police officers, media and yellow caution tape. They described the family as friendly and quiet, and refuted the notion that drugs were involved in the killings.
"Carren was a very nice girl. She was the sweetest person, always smiling," said Loraine Evans McLeeish, a cousin. "Lary was very friendly. I cant believe that nobody heard anything. Who would want to do this anyway?"
According to the victims family, Barnes, a Jamaican immigrant, ran a hardware store on Nostrand Avenue in Crown Heights. His wife worked as an accountant and was a student at LaGuardia Community College. The aunt, who was Carens sister, was vacationing here from Jamaica. The couples other child, a 5-year-old daughter, was at a day-care center the morning of the murders.
Vera McCalla, Chambers 63-year-old mother, rushed to the scene in her pajamas after she heard the news. "I dont know how this could have happened," she said. "Why did this happen?"
John Sampson, a neighbor who lives across the street, was equally puzzled by the vicious crime, which he said seemed out of place for the quiet, easy-going neighborhood. "You never heard any loud noises coming from that house," he said. "Larry was really a quiet guy. I dont know how to sum it up. The atmosphere for this to happen just wasnt there."