By Sadef Ali Kully
The 103rd Precinct had its first homicide since December when a Laurelton man was shot dead around 5 a.m. Sunday near the corner of Camden Avenue and Liberty Avenue in St. Albans, according to police.
Police responded to the call and found 30-year old Russell McKee from Laurelton shot multiple times about the torso, police said.
Emergency medical services took McKee to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, according to officials.
“We almost made it past the summer,” a police source said. “This is always sad.”
In 2014, the 103rd Precinct had a total of seven homicides compared to this year, which has had only one homicide, according to NYPD statistics.
Police did not confirm if the shooting was gang-related but did say no arrests were made and the investigation was ongoing.
In March, Deputy Inspector John Cappelman had announced that since October the precinct had had no shooting incidents.
The 103rd Precinct was one of the first precincts to receive the pilot mentor program as part the NYPD’s neighborhood policing agenda.
The 103rd Precinct has jurisdiction over the downtown Jamaica Business District, Hollis Park Gardens, Hollis, Lakewood, and Jamaica neighborhoods in southeast Queens.
It also is home to the four 103rd Precinct officers Kenneth Healey, Taylor Kraft, Joseph Meeker and Peter Rivera, who fought off and survived a hatchet-wielding attacker in 2014.
Healey, from Long Beach, has gone through two skull reconstructive surgeries since the incident and is looking forward to getting back to work, according to Cappelmann.
The officers were also recognized at the 22nd Annual Top Cops Awards by the National Association of Police Organizations for actions above and beyond the call of duty in May in Washington, D.C.
Reach Reporter Sadef Ali Kully by e-mail at skull
