By Howard Koplowitz
A teenager was charged in the early Saturday morning murder of a former police officer from St. Albans, authorities said.
Devante Seabrook, 19, of 106-29 Union Hall St. in Jamaica, was charged with fatally shooting 28-year-old Colin Bowlin, who retired from the Police Department about 3 1/2 years ago, police and Bowlin’s distraught brother said.
Colin Bowlin was shot around 4:17 a.m. near 113th Avenue and Sutphin Boulevard in Jamaica and the slain ex-officer’s brother said police told him Colin’s shooting appeared to be a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“I think it was one of those types of things,” said his older brother, Martin Bowlin, 33, who was wearing his brother’s shield on his polo shirt as the family gathered at Colin Bowlin’s St. Albans home.
Colin Bowlin had been a police officer assigned to the 101st Precinct in the Rockaways for 3 1/2 years and had a full-time job as an armored car driver and moonlighted as a shuttle bus driver at John F. Kennedy International Airport, his brother said.
“He wasn’t lazy and he didn’t ask for handouts,” Martin Bowlin said.
“He was very motivated and had a bright future, very family-oriented,” said Martin Bowlin. “All of his nephews idolized him.”
Bowlin’s brother said he also loved sports and was into basketball and politics, volunteering for City Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans) and U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Jamaica) on his off-days when he worked as a police officer.
“He’ll watch MSNBC for four hours straight,” Martin Bowlin said. “He loved the president.”
Martin Bowlin said he last saw his brother at a party Saturday night.
“We were all earing and making jokes,” he said.
He last spoke to Colin three days before he was killed and the brothers were planning a vacation to the Dominican Republic.
“We were looking forward to going away together,” he said.
Martin Bowlin said his brother fell in love with law enforcement at a young age and even volunteered to try to catch a rapist operating in southeast Queens last year, even though he was retired from the force.
“He was passionate about that job,” his brother said.
Martin Bowlin said his brother was “leaving a family behind that will miss him dearly.
“He would want nothing more as a police officer to see [his murderer] off the street,” he said.
Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at hkoplowitz@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4573.
