A Queens grand jury indicted seven men for a shooting at a Richmond Hill baby shower in May, leaving a Long Island man dead and three others injured.
The gunfire, which was apparently gang-related, erupted outside a party venue and then continued inside, where dozens of people were gathered, including four young children, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced Friday.
Jermaine Orr, 23, of 210th Street in Cambria Heights; Jameer Bennett, 20, of 181st Place in Springfield Gardens; Michael Hammond, 20, of Brooklyn; and Javed Duncan,23, of Menands, NY, were each charged in a 55-count indictment with weapon possession, reckless endangerment, endangering the welfare of a child and other related crimes. Hammond was additionally charged with tampering with physical evidence.
Lagarthucin LeGrand, 50, of Brooklyn, was charged with weapons possession and tampering with physical evidence. His son, Lagarthucin LeGrand Jr., 26, of Brooklyn, was charged with tampering with physical evidence. A seventh defendant remains at large.
“An event that was supposed to be the celebration of a new life turned into a deadly bloodbath when gunfire erupted both inside and outside the party venue,” Katz said.
According to the charges, on May 4, 2024, more than 40 people and the four kids were at the baby shower at Volume Seventeen, a storefront event space located at 108-11 Atlantic Ave. At approximately 1:30 a.m., around a dozen people were congregating outside the venue when they were approached by two people who opened fire on the group.
One man suffered a gunshot wound to his leg, and another man was hit in the abdomen, leg and arm. The panicked partygoers ran back inside the venue, and those inside ran and ducked for cover. Several people, including Orr, Bennett, Hammond, and Duncan, allegedly fired guns through the venue’s windows outside to the sidewalk where the shooters had been.
One attendee, 24-year-old Jefari Dobie-Reinhardt of Great Neck, was fatally struck by the gunfire. Another partygoer was also injured.
After the gunfire stopped, LeGrand, the expectant grandfather, was allegedly handed a gun by another person who remains at large. He took the firearm and placed it in a rice tray. His son then put a cover on the tray. A loaded 9 mm Sig Sauer pistol was recovered from a tray of rice in a garbage bag behind the incident location. Hammond is alleged to have placed a gun in a tray of food and carried it out of the party space.
Police from the 102nd Precinct in Richmond Hill responded to the scene, where they recovered 35 shell casings, one fired bullet, and two live cartridges from inside the venue.
“It was a scene out of the Wild West with at least 35 bullet casings recovered as two groups fired at each other,” Katz said. “And a 24-year-old man lost his life in the process.”
Orr, Bennett, and Lagarthucin Le Grand were arraigned before Queens Supreme Court Justice Edwin Novillo on Thursday and ordered to return to court on Feb. 27. Duncan, Hammond, and Lagarthucin LeGrand Jr. will be arraigned at a later date. Hammond, Orr, Duncan, and Bennett face up to 15 years in prison if convicted. LeGrand faces up to 11 years, and his son faces up to four years in prison.
“This is an ongoing investigation, and my office is resolute in prosecuting those who plague our communities with gun violence,” Katz said.
