Homicide detectives from the 106th Precinct in Ozone Park are asking for the public’s help in identifying a murder suspect who is wanted for gunning down a Queens Village man in front of a South Ozone Park nightclub on the night of Monday, April 29.
Police are looking for a man who wore a New York Rangers road jersey when he fatally shot Temel Phillips of 102nd Avenue in front of the Caribbean Fest Lounge at 116-14 Rockaway Blvd., more than nine miles away from his Queens Village home.
An NYPD spokeswoman said the detectives are still working to establish a motive behind the fatal shooting that occurred at around 1:04 a.m., bringing police from the 106th Precinct to the crime scene, where they found Phillips covered in blood after being shot multiple times throughout his body, including his head, chest, leg and abdomen, according to law enforcement sources.
EMS responded to the location and rushed Phillips to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead a short while later. Crime scene investigators used plastic cups to mark the spots where six unknown caliber shell casings were recovered on Rockaway Boulevard.
The NYPD released a surveillance image of the lone gunman on Thursday and described him as wearing a white Rangers jersey, blue jeans, black shoes and a blue face mask. A reward of up to $3,500 in being offered for information that leads to his arrest.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, or on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
Through May 5, the 106th Precinct has reported two murders so far in 2024 after having none at the same point last year, according to the most recent CompStat report.
