By Sadef Ali Kully
A young man was arrested and charged with murder last Friday in the fatal March shooting of 70-year-old Leta Webb. According to police, Webb was shot in the head and left arm while she stood in the doorway of her South Jamaica home.
Julian Douglas, 22, from 131st Street in South Ozone Park was tracked and arrested in an acquaintance’s home within the jurisdiction of the 113th Precinct last Friday evening, police said.
Officers found no weapons or ballistics at the home of the acquaintance after the arrest, according to police officials.
Douglas was charged with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon, the criminal complaint filed by the Manhattan district attorney said.
According to the complaint, Douglas shot the grandmother dead March 31, when she opened the door of her home on 119th Avenue after a loud pounding disturbed her at around 1:30 a.m.
Webb was rushed to Jamaica Hospital where she was pronounced dead later that morning.
A video surveillance camera caught images of a white Ford Econoline Van that was reportedly used as part of the getaway and police said there was a $2,000 reward for tips that led to an arrest.
Sources close to the police speculated that the murder, which shook the neighborhood’s residents, might have been a gang-related crime.
A couple of days after the incident, community leaders held a prayer vigil outside of the Webb home to address senseless violence. Rev. Phil Craig, pastor of Greater Springfield Community Church and president of the Queens Chapter of the National Action Network; Valerie and Nicole Bell, the mother and then-fiancée of Sean Bell, who was killed by 50 police bullets in 2006; and Gwen Carr and Emerald Snipes-Garner, the mother and daughter of Eric Garner, the Staten Island man who died during an August 2014 altercation with police, were present at the event.
Webb’s adopted son, Arnold Webb, 27, is currently serving a 25-year sentence in prison after pleading guilty to gang-related manslaughter in 2011, according to court records.
Leta Webb, a staple of the neighborhood, was born in Belize and came to the United States more than 40 years ago, neighbors said.
Her son-in-law, Kevin McDowell, who was home at the time of the murder, spoke with NY1 and said the family was happy with the arrest and looks forward to getting justice for the matriarch of their family.
Reach Reporter Sadef Ali Kully by e-mail at skull
