By Joe Anuta
After a shooting on the border of St. Albans and South Jamaica left a recent high school graduate dead and wounded three other teens over the weekend, police were still searching for suspects Tuesday and had handcuffed one of the victims to his Jamaica Hospital bed.
Terrell Fountain, 18, was shot in the chest, back and arm when the attack occurred around 4:15 a.m. Sunday morning along 157th Street near 113th Avenue and died on the way to Jamaica Hospital, according to police.
The other three victims — ages 16, 17 and 18 — were hit in the leg, arm and buttocks, police said.
“It’s just senseless,” said Fountain’s aunt, Shanel Cherry-Mitchell, who noted that the 18-year-old had graduated from an upstate high school Friday and was only back in Queens to visit. “What goes around will come around.”
Cherry-Mitchell said the group of friends was walking home from a birthday barbecue when they were ambushed, and a police source said an unknown number of suspects got out of two black cars and shots were fired. One neighbor said that there was six shots, while another said there was as many as 17 fired.
Cherry-Mitchell said police informed her there were some arguments that took place at the barbecue, but her nephew was not involved.
The mother of Darryl Adams, the 18-year-old who was shot in the right buttock during the attack, said her son does not know what happened, but after he was taken to Jamaica Hospital to await surgery, NYPD officers handcuffed him to his bed.
“He can’t even move,” Shanta Merritt said Monday. “They have him shackled like he is a wild dog.”
A bullet from a .40-caliber gun hit Adams in the buttock, damaged his hip bone and became lodged in his abdomen, his mother said. On Monday evening, doctors removed the slug, but not before Adams’ right hand and left leg were shackled to the bed.
Asked why the teen was handcuffed, the information arm of the Police Department said Adams had two open warrants. The police did not respond to other questions posed by TimesLedger Newspapers about the incident, but Merritt said an officer informed her it was standard procedure. She believed the warrant came from her son drinking alcohol in a park after hours.
An officer said he would take the handcuffs off if Adams gave out more information about the early morning shooting, according to Merritt.
Merritt then called City Councilman Ruben Wills (D-Jamaica) and activist Erica Ford, who pressured police.
Around 5 p.m. Monday, Adams was uncuffed.
Sunday afternoon in Springfield Gardens, Fountain’s family gathered in disbelief.
The 18-year-old had planned on attending Sullivan Community College, in Loch Sheldrake, N.Y., to study liberal arts.
“He always had something funny to say. He was original,” said his stepfather Michael Segars. “The world is going to miss a person who could have made a change in people’s lives.”
Fountain was a sharp student, his family said, and like many gifted kids caused his teachers considerable grief when he hung out with his large circle friends instead of pouring over textbooks.
Fountain and other friends in his neighborhood played sports, worked on art projects and started a breakdance crew called Team Up, according to his mother Brigitte Hoggard and fellow teammates.
“I don’t know if it had to do with one of his friends, or if it was just a person who has no regard for human life,” Segars said. “I hope and pray the police will find and catch this person.”
Donations for Fountain’s funeral can be sent to P.O. Box 301022, JFK Airport Station 11430-9997.
Reach reporter Joe Anuta by e-mail at januta@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
