By The Diary
08 Oct 2024, 12:12 PM EDT
Rahsaun Williams was fatally shot in the courtyard of a public housing complex (NYCHA) in Queens because he came to the aid of his girlfriend who was being groped on the street, according to friends and family.
Williams, 39, was hanging out with friends outside the Pomonok Houses on Parsons Blvd., near 65th Ave. in Flushing, around 7:30 p.m. Friday when he received a call from his girlfriend, telling him She said a man had touched her inappropriately.
Upon arriving at the scene, Williams was shot three times after exchanging words with his attacker just a few days before his 40th birthday on October 9, relatives of the victim said. He was wounded in both shoulders and the abdomen and died at New York-Presbyterian Hospital Queens.
The gunman fled the scene and has not been arrested. Williams was initially said to have been shot by a woman, but the NYPD later updated that version.
“This was all about a little girl,” the victim’s mother, Beverly Williams, told DailyNews. “A young man slapped her on the butt and she picked up the phone and called Rahsaun, and he came to defend her. “It doesn’t make sense.”
“What it boils down to is that he was a helpful person,” Williams’ mother said. “He was not aggressive (…) he felt that it was wrong to do that (to the girlfriend) and he came to defend her.” He added that his son left two orphaned children, ages 2 and 4, and was studying to be a drug counselor and help vulnerable teenagers.
His mother said she plans to donate his organs. “I don’t know if he wanted it or not, but I think, being who he is, being helpful, he would want it.” For more information about organ donation in New York, you can visit the Spanish page of LiveOnNY, a “non-profit organization committed to helping prolong the lives of New Yorkers.” Blood donors are also constantly needed at the New York Blood Center (NYBC), which supplies hospitals in New York and New Jersey.
No arrests have been made or suspects identified in this homicide. Anyone with information should call 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) and in Spanish 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). Also through the website crimestoppers.nypdonline.org or by text message to 274637 (CRIMES), followed by TIP577. All communications are strictly confidential.
Gun violence is constant in New York and some victims are hit at random on streets, schools, public transportation and businesses. Clashes are often linked to a battle between gang members for turf, and suspects sometimes incriminate themselves by boasting and posting about their crimes on social media.
In September, at least five Hispanics were shot to death in New York in less than a week. In addition, two teenagers were arrested for other recent homicides of immigrants in New York: a 66-year-old grandfather hit by a stray bullet while behind the wheel in Queens, which also led to him running over a woman; and a mother who was killed during a robbery in front of her family inside her residential building in Lower Manhattan.