A Bronx man is facing 75 years to life in prison after he was convicted Thursday of murder and other crimes for a deadly shooting at the Umbrella Hotel in Kew Gardens during the early morning hours of New Year’s Day 2021.
Richard Swygert, 24, was found guilty of gunning down a 20-year-old Robert Williams of Rosedale and shooting and injuring two others in a dispute that erupted between factions of young people outside the hotel. Williams would have turned 21 the following day, instead his was the first murder recorded in New York City in 2021.
According to the charges and trial testimony, on Jan. 1, 2021, at approximately 1:09 a.m., Swygert and others entered the Umbrella Hotel on 82nd Avenue and Queens Boulevard in Kew Gardens where they waited for the elevator. A few minutes later, the three victims exited the elevator and Swygert and his group followed them to the main hotel lobby. Both groups left the hotel and words were exchanged between one of the victims and one of Swygert’s companions. A physical fight ensued between the two groups.
Swygert took out a gun and fired multiple rounds. The defendant allegedly shot 20-year-old Robert Deandre Williams five times. He then fired at the second victim six times, striking him in the stomach, arms and legs. Swygert shot the third victim once in the leg.
EMS rushed Williams to NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens where he was pronounced dead as the result of multiple gunshot wounds.
A 40-year-old victim was transported by EMS to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition and required life-saving emergency surgery as well as additional surgeries to save his leg from amputation.
The second surviving victim, a 20 year-old man, was transported by EMS to New York-Presbyterian Queens Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition and treated for a gunshot wound to the thigh.
Thirteen spent shell casings were recovered from the front of the Umbrella Hotel, which permanently closed for business a short time after the incident. The fatal shooting outraged the Kew Gardens community who demanded its closure claiming it was a hotbed of criminal activities, including prostitution, drug dealing and human trafficking. It closed down days after the homicide.
Swygert was arrested by members of the NYPD on October 26, 2021.
“Richard Swygert turned a quiet Kew Garden street into a shooting gallery in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day 2021,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. “He killed Robert Williams, shot another man six times and wounded a third, before running out of bullets and fleeing the scene. It was the first homicide of the year, and the defendant showed complete disregard.”
Swygert’s trial in Queens Supreme Court, a block away from the now shuttered Umbrella Hotel, began on March 2 and closings took plav=ce on March 16. The jury deliberated for approximately two days before reaching a guilty verdict. Queens Supreme Court Justice Ushir Pandit-Durant set Swygert’s return date for April 24, when he faces a sentence of up to 75 years to life in prison.
“Thanks to the extraordinary work of our prosecutors and partners at the NYPD, this defendant was convicted at trial of murder and related charges,” Katz said. “We offer our condolences to the victims and their loved ones.”
