Police say they have identified a person of interest in the Queens killing of a 13-year-old boy in a Dunkin’ Donuts parking lot earlier this week.
According to NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny, cops now believe Sanjay Samuel was gunned down in what they are classifying as a gang dispute. While authorities underscore that Samuel is not found in their gang database and does not have a criminal history, they say posts made by the child indicate that he was a member of a gang.
“We’re looking at his social media posts, and from just based on his social media posts, it appears that he may have some affiliation or association with SSM, which he posts quite frequently. That’s the Sex Money Murder gang, it’s a Blood subset,” Chief Kenny said Thursday. “This is just based on his own social media posts where he refers to himself as J2 guns.”
Chief Kenny reported that Samuel’s heart-wrenching slaying unfolded as he was hanging out with a group of kids outside of the coffee shop around 8:15 a.m. on Monday before school, when another teen pulled up to them riding a razor scooter and brandished a firearm.
“The perpetrator gets back on a scooter to leave. The crowd starts yelling at him again. He comes back, at which point he gets into a physical fight with our victim. They start throwing punches at each other, and then a shot is fired,” Chief Kenny said.
As the teenager fled, the police say a good Samaritan driving nearby followed the shooter and attempted to convince him to surrender.
“At some point, he actually pulls alongside the shooter and asks him to surrender. He says, ‘No.’ He says, ‘Give me the gun.’ He says, ‘No’. The perpetrator begins to ask him for a ride. Obviously, the civilian says ’No’ but says, ’Can I have your sweatshirt?’ And for some reason, the perp gives him his sweatshirt. It’s a very identifiable sweatshirt. It’s clearly the one that’s on the scene that he was wearing during the shooting,” Kenny said.
Police say they have identified the shooter as 16-year-old Jason Sykes, who goes by the nickname “Flex” and is known to cause trouble in the area. Police say he is being hunted by the Regional Fugitive Task Force.
Meanwhile, EMS rushed Samuel to Cohen Children’s Medical Center in critical condition, where he succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday. His body is being kept on life support while his family plans on donating his organs.
“Sanjay was the most joyful son I had,” Sanjay’s mother Vilene Griffith told ABC News. “My heart is overwhelmed with grief with my Sanjay.”
