Jamaican youth shot dead in NY on Memorial Day
NEW YORK, Jamaica (CMC) – New York Police say a Jamaican youth working two jobs in hopes of attending college and playing basketball was shot and killed on Monday, Memorial Day, while sitting on his front step in Queens.
They said Dowayne Henry, 20, was at his family’s home with two other men when a lone gunman opened fire.
According to police, Henry, who worked as a preschool teacher and as a salesman at a sports store at Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, Long Island, was shot in the stomach and head.
Police also said that a 25-year-old man was shot in the back and taken to Jamaica Hospital in Queens in stable condition.
The authorities said they were looking for the gunman, who was wearing a gray hoodie.
“Most important to him was basketball,” said Henry’s Jamaican-born uncle, Andrew Douglas, 49. “That was his life. He loved it”.
Douglas said he heard that the shooting might have been over some fancy Michael Jordan sneakers Henry was wearing.
Family members said Henry attended Monroe College in the Bronx but was planning to transfer to York College in Queens to play basketball there.
Henry was a shooting guard at Coconut Creek High School in Broward County, Florida, where his father lives, and graduated in 2011.
Henry’s neighbour, Tariq Miller, 20, said he heard one shot followed by a pause and nine more. He said he immediately went outside and saw his friend sprawled out face down.
