Police have arrested a Brooklyn teen they say shot and killed a 15-year-old boy at a Southeast Queens playground earlier this month.
Zahir Davis, 18, has been charged with murder in the death of 15-year-old Jaden Pierre of South Richmond Hill, officials say. In a statement on Saturday, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said Pierre was “mercilessly beaten” before being shot during an April 16 gathering at Roy Wilkins Park in St. Albans.
“No parent should ever have to bury their 15-year-old child, and my office will vigorously prosecute this case to ensure justice for Jaden and his loved ones,” Katz said in a statement.
Katz said Pierre had arrived at the park to participate in a water fight advertised on social media. According to Katz, a group of boys attacked Pierre, punching and kicking him repeatedly. Davis approached Pierre during the melee and shot him in the chest with a silver firearm, Katz said.
In addition to the murder charge, Davis, a Springfield Gardens resident, was also charged with gang assault in the first degree and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, according to the statement from Katz’s office. He had also been charged earlier this month for threatening to shoot his ex-girlfriend, who is the mother of his child.
Davis could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said on X that Davis fled to the island of Jamaica after the shooting, but was arrested by detectives assigned to the U.S. Marshals Regional Fugitive Task Force as soon as he landed in New York City on Friday night.
The NYPD described the incident on social media as a “horrific act of violence.” Former Mayor Eric Adams later posted a video that appears to show a group cornering and beating Pierre. In the moments leading up to the shooting, one of the attackers throws Pierre to the ground, but Pierre regains his footing. A crowd surrounding the teens quickly disperses after gunshots ring out.
“When you see that video as many New Yorkers have, you feel a sense of heartbreak at the fact that this has happened to a young person in our city,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani told WNYC’s Brigid Bergin during the station’s “Mamdani's First 100 Days: Lessons from La Guardia” discussion earlier this week.
Pierre is at least the seventh teen to die of gun violence in the city so far this year, according to reports compiled by Gothamist. But the NYPD says overall, the city has experienced record-low murders and shooting incidents in the first three months of the year.
“No matter how many statistics I can rattle off to you about what this first quarter looks like, we still see acts of violence of this nature,” Mamdani said at the WNYC event.
