A Queens grand jury indicted a Far Rockaway man for allegedly gunning down a neighbor and shooting another as he ran for his life in late May.
Navaldo Brown, 33, of Grassmere Terrace, was arrested and booked at the 101st Precinct in Far Rockaway on Tuesday, July 1, and he was arraigned in Queens Supreme Court later that day on an indictment charging his with murder in the second degree, attempted murder in the second degree and other related crimes and is being held without bail.
At around 12:20 a.m. on Thursday, May 29, Brown and an unapprehended accomplice approached two men who were walking near the corner of New Haven Avenue and Beach 19th Street. Brown allegedly pulled out a loaded firearm and started shooting, striking a 42-year-old man multiple times in the torso, and then shot his 36-year-old friend in the back as he tried to flee the scene.
Brown and his accomplice fled on foot, heading west on New Haven Avenue. Police from the 101st Precinct responded to a 911 call of shots fired in the area and found the two wounded men on the sidewalk.
EMS rushed the two victims to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where the 42-year-old man was listed in critical condition but succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead. He was later identified as Johnny Ellis, of Cornaga Avenue in Far Rockaway, about a block from Brown’s Grassmere Terrace home. The 36-year-old man was listed in stable condition and has not been identified.
Brown was additionally charged with two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. He was arraigned before Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder, who remanded Brown into custody without bail and ordered Brown to return to court on Sept. 9.
