Police are looking for a hooded suspect who gunned down a 14-year-old Rockaway boy before stealing his scooter to flee the scene on Monday.
NYPD officials released a photo of the person wanted for killing Malakai Adams at a housing complex on Beach Channel Drive on Monday around 3:30 p.m. According to witnesses, Adams was near the Ocean Bay Apartments’ basketball court when he spotted the gunman walking toward him; the fatal shots rang out as he turned to flee. Police confirmed that version of events, and added that the suspect then took Adams’ scooter and headed eastbound on Norton Avenue.
Neither police nor residents at the complex said they knew why Adams was targeted. Officials said they were still investigating the incident on Tuesday afternoon.
Adams lived less than half a mile away on Beach 56th Place, according to police. His sister, who was at the scene on Tuesday but declined to give her full name to reporters because she is also a minor, said Adams’ favorite thing was to be around the people he loved.
“As his mother, I cannot put into words the pain of losing my baby. At 14, he had his whole life ahead of him — dreams to chase, milestones to reach, and so many more memories we should have had the chance to make together,” Adams’ mother, Alexis Credle, wrote on a GoFundMe page organized in her son’s memory. “Instead, I am now faced with something no mother should ever have to do: prepare to lay my child to rest.”
Neighbor Jose Checo said that although safety at the complex had improved in the last 20 years, violence still happens occasionally.
Adams is at least the 16th teen to die of gun violence in New York City so far this year, according to news reports compiled by Gothamist. While shootings are down 50% in the 101st Precinct — which covers the neighborhoods of Far Rockaway and Bayswater — this year, two more people have been murdered in the precinct so far compared to last year, police data shows. The total count, including Adams’ death, is six.
This is a developing story and may be updated.
