A 13-year-old Springfield Gardens boy who was shot in the head at a Cambria Heights Dunkin’ Donuts parking lot on Monday morning died Wednesday, according to authorities.
Sanjay Samuel, of 226th Street, succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at Cohen Children’s Medical Center on Wednesday afternoon, two days after a gunman opened fire on him following a brief dispute while the youngster was walking to school.
His death has been reclassified as a homicide.
On Monday, Sept. 22, police from the 105th Precinct in Queens Village responded to a 911 call of a boy shot at 208-15 Linden Blvd. at 8:21 a.m. and found Samuel lying on the pavement with a gunshot wound to the side of his head. EMS rushed him to Cohen Children’s Medical Center in Glen Oaks, where he was listed in critical condition, an NYPD spokesman said Monday. The teen was reportedly walking to Martin Van Buren High School on Hillside Avenue in Queens Village when he was targeted by the gunman, who shot him and rode off on a scooter and remains at large.
Homicide detectives are looking for a suspect who wore a white hoodie, white sneakers, and a black backpack with a Jaws movie logo on it.
Anyone with information regarding this assault investigation is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 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 confidential.
Through Sept. 21, the 105th Precinct has reported 162 felony assaults so far in 2025, 25 fewer than the 197 reported at the same point last year, a decline of 13.4%, according to the most recent CompStat report.
