On Saturday night, the New York Police (NYPD) responded to the call at the corner of Steinway St. and Astoria Boulevard in Queens, after a shooting occurred on a street full of restaurants in Astoria where two people died due to to gunshot wounds. Authorities estimated at least 14 firearms detonations during the event.
Responding NYPD officers found 22-year-old Xavier Roberts lying on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds to the stomach and legs, along with 21-year-old Jaheim Hamilton with multiple gunshot wounds to the torso. Both victims were from Harlem and were taken to Elmhurst Hospital, but first responders were unable to save them.
According to witnesses, the two victims were walking down Steinway Street with Roberts’ brother when a gunman began shooting at them. Xavier’s brother told NYPD authorities that he was unable to identify any victim traits. “My brother was a role model (…) he was a hero (…) he had a heart that was sometimes bigger than the world we live in,” Roberts’ brother told the New York Daily News.
According to reports from the New York Police, Xavier Roberts had no criminal record, but was requested by the courts to appear for two shootings that occurred in 2019 and 2020, while Hamilton had been arrested once for a minor crime.
So far the authorities have not been able to identify the person responsible for these deaths. In addition, the NYPD had gone a year without reporting a homicide in Astoria.
With information from the New York Daily News
Keep reading:
- 2-year-old reported missing in Florida found dead in alligator’s mouth; father was accused of the crime
- 7 dead in 43 overdoses in and near New York bars: fentanyl mixed with other drugs