Jury indicts 7 people in connection with fatal shooting at baby shower in Richmond Hill – NBC New York

Seven people face criminal charges from last year fatal baby shower in Queens when officials said a gunfight between gangs interrupted the celebration and resulted in the death of a 24-year-old man.

The borough’s district attorney on Friday released details of a 55-count grand jury indictment that identified six men and a seventh person who has not yet been arrested allegedly involved in the May 4 shooting.

According to District Attorney Melinda Katz’s office, two men approached Volume Seventeen in Richmond Hill around 1:30 a.m. and opened fire on a group of about a dozen people standing outside. The group scattered, with many of them seeking shelter inside.

The indictment alleges that the men continued to fire through the classroom windows, wounding three people and fatally striking Jefari Dobie-Reinhardt, 24, of Great Neck.

Prosecutors said more than 40 people, including four young children, gathered on Atlantic Avenue for the baby shower.

Surveillance footage recovered around the time of the shooting captured the sounds of gunshots as a white car was seen driving away from the area. Additional video from the scene shows detectives walking through a crime scene littered with party decorations and dozens of bullet casings.

News 4

“It was a scene straight out of the Old West, with at least 35 bullet casings recovered as two groups of rivals shot at each other, and a 24-year-old man lost his life in the process,” Katz said in a statement.

Four men in their 20s were charged with criminal possession of a weapon, reckless endangerment, criminal possession of a firearm and endangering the welfare of a child. One of these men, a 20-year-old, allegedly placed the gun in a tray of food and took it out of the premises.

A 50-year-old Brooklyn man was also charged with possession of a weapon and tampering with physical evidence. Katz’s office said he was an expected grandparent at a baby shower and after he was handed a gun, he threw the gun into a tray of rice. The man’s 26-year-old son was charged with tampering for allegedly placing a lid on a tray of rice.

According to the district attorney, a 9 mm Sig Sauer pistol was found at the scene in a tray of rice in a garbage bag.

After the shooting, neighbors told News 4 the establishment usually hosts parties that get out of control.

“This place is a problem. There has been a problem since it opened: fighting, drugs, gunshots,” said Wasir Rasul, who has lived in the area for almost 20 years. “I hope they close the company after this.”