NEW YORK – New York City police on April 24 night arrested a man they had been seeking in connection with the killing of a 15-year-old boy who was shot in broad daylight at a Queens park this month.
The man, Zahir Davis, 18, was taken into custody just before 9.30pm on April 24 (9.30am on April 25, Singapore time) and charged in the death of Jaden Pierre, a teenager who was beaten and shot during a fight in Roy Wilkins Park in South Jamaica on April 16.
Davis was arraigned on the morning of April 25 in Queens Criminal Court on charges of second-degree murder, gang assault and criminal possession of a weapon. If convicted, he faces up to 25 years to life in prison.
Police had been seeking Davis since last week, but he had fled New York City for the island nation of Jamaica just after the shooting, evading arrest, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a statement on April 25.
Davis returned to New York City on April 24 and was apprehended by New York Police Department detectives on the US Marshals’ local fugitive task force shortly after landing at an airport, Tisch said.
Davis’ arrest was a break in a case that has haunted South Jamaica – and the city – for nearly a week.
“This murder has shocked and outraged our city,” Ms Melinda Katz, the Queens district attorney whose office is prosecuting the case, said in a statement after the arraignment.
Jaden’s death has been a tension point in the city since videos of his killing, and the fight that preceded it, surfaced online.
Video of the encounter, which was captured by at least two bystanders, shows several young people repeatedly punching Jaden near the park’s basketball courts as a large group of teenagers shouts with excitement.
In one video, a young man pulls out what looks to be a gun and points it at Jaden before a single pop rings out and Jaden crumples to the ground.
It remained unclear on April 25 what precisely had sparked the fight, but detectives on April 21 had said that the episode began when more than 100 teenagers gathered in the park for a water gunfight.
Mr Joseph Kenny, the department’s chief of detectives, said the event had been publicised on social media and that detectives believe it had been co-hosted by Jaden. While its intent appeared to be harmless, he said, the event had drawn members of at least six different gangs.
Jaden, who was unarmed, had been feuding with one of the teenagers who beat him since January, detectives said.
It appeared that Davis, who was part of the fighting, had been trying to pistol whip Jaden, Kenny said, but the gun discharged as he hit him, striking Jaden in the chest. Ms Katz called the shooting unprovoked.
Based on internal intelligence, police believe Davis is a member of the BG4 gang, an emerging group that has been operating for at least a year in southeast Queens.
On April 25, Davis was also arraigned on harassment charges stemming from a separate episode just days before the fight, in which he is accused of threatening to shoot his ex-girlfriend, with whom he shares a child.
The videos of the attack on Jaden, and their swift dissemination online, have prompted concern from many lawmakers, who have not only condemned the violence but also questioned the callousness of those who filmed the interaction.
“Why was his life not worth putting the phone down?” Mr Jumaane Williams, the city’s public advocate, asked at a vigil for Jaden on the evening of April 20, which drew hundreds of mourners and an array of elected officials.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who did not attend the vigil, said on April 20 during a discussion hosted by WNYC that Jaden’s youth had added to the tragedy of the killing.
“We extend not only our condolences to the family, but, frankly, a necessity of recommitting ourselves to ending the scourge of gun violence in this city,” Mr Mamdani said.
The killing comes as the Police Department has struggled to address a recent rise in shootings involving teenagers, even as gun violence and other major crimes in the city have declined.
In 2025, 14 per cent of all shooting victims in New York City, and 18 per cent of perpetrators, were younger than 18. Both statistics represent the highest share of youth shootings since the Police Department began tracking such data in 2018.
The Department has rolled out a series of initiatives to address the rise, including deploying more school safety agents in and around schools and policing areas where teenagers are most at risk, like bus stops and commuter corridors.
Since making the changes last September, the Police Department said that shootings involving young people have declined in those zones while officers have been deployed.
Still, a spate of recent killings involving teenagers this year has rattled the city.
On April 24, hours before Davis was arrested, a 16-year-old boy, Marquise Byfield was fatally shot at about 4pm local time (4am on April 25, Singapore time) in East New York, police said.
On April 25, police said they had made no arrests in that case. NYTIMES
