Feigning death, massacre survivor ran for help

A plastic-wrapped telephone directory addressed to Sonia Taylor rested on the porch of 116-31 225th Street in Cambria Heights just to the left of a worn, green and beige doormat. The mat’s greeting faced into the home, as if to welcome those who once lived there into the outside world.
Cops believe that on Wednesday, April 18, 20-year-old Jimmie Dawkins shot his mother, Sonia Taylor, 44, her companion, Arnold Lawson, 47, and Lawson’s home health aid, Syndia Jean-Pierre, 28, before turning the gun on himself.
According to those living and working in proximity to the small, brick-front home, few in the neighborhood knew much, if anything, about Dawkins or his family.
When 63-year-old James Cleveland arrived to his home across the street from the site of the shooting, he said he was surprised to even learn that the family lived there.
“I know the owner, but someone said, ‘Oh no, it’s not him.’ It shocked the hell out of me. I saw people going and coming but I thought it was family, not renters,” he said as he raked the leaves on his front lawn in the ebbing light of dusk.
“I’ve never seen any young kid going up and down the block or sitting on the porch,” of the quiet, tree-lined street, said Cleveland about Dawkins whose mind he said must have “snapped” to commit the crimes he allegedly did.
Cleveland said that following the shootings, “People said they argued all the time but I didn’t hear anything.”
At 3 J’s Restaurant at 223-15 Linden Boulevard where Taylor and Lawson often ate, they were “a very happy family,” proprietor Joyce Reynolds said. “They come every morning for breakfast and then watch the cricket,” she said, “It’s the World Cup, you know.”
The only survivor of the shooting spree, Lawson’s 21-year old nephew Laurice Johnson, who was visiting from the island of Jamaica, escaped from the home and ran into Reynolds’ restaurant for help after being grazed by a bullet and feigning death inside the closet he hid in.
“He came in screaming for help,” Reynolds said, describing the barefoot young man. “I said, ‘What happened? Are you bleeding? Are you okay?’”
“[Dawkins] was always by himself. I saw him walking with another guy once,” said Monica of Boston Jerk Palace and Restaurant at 224-15 Linden Boulevard, who asked that her last name not be printed.
Monica said Dawkins was never disrespectful toward her and would greet her with a wave of his hand when passing by her storefront. “He never told me no when I asked him to help me get something out of the truck,” she said.
After visiting the island of Jamaica last July, Monica said Dawkins’ disposition changed. “Something went wrong in Jamaica,” she said. She later added, “He used to love his mother, he used to respect his mother.”