The Queens district attorney charged a 15-year-old boy with murder and criminal possession of a weapon for allegedly firing shots that killed a 66-year-old driver on Monday afternoon.
The teen is accused of shooting at a gang rival in the parking lot of a Popeyes restaurant on Farmers Boulevard and 117th Street in St. Albans just before 5 p.m. on Monday. He missed, and the bullets instead hit William Alcindor, a father of three who happened to be driving by, according to the DA’s office.
Alcindor became incapacitated after he was shot once in the head and twice in the body, the DA’s office said. His SUV then veered off the street, jumped a curb and careened into a 23-year-old woman on the sidewalk.
Both Alcindor and the woman he struck were taken to the hospital with extensive injuries, the DA’s office said. The woman suffered a concussion and a shattered leg.
Doctors immediately attempted surgery to save Alcindor, but he was pronounced dead later that night.
His son Williamson Alcindor told a Gothamist reporter by phone Thursday that he didn’t want to talk about the teen’s arrest.
“[My father] was loved by his community. He lived in Rosedale there for a long time, so everybody in the Cambria Heights and the Rosedale community knew who William was, because he was that type of person,” Alcindor said.
The 15-year-old was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on Wednesday night before Judge Edward Daniels on a complaint charging him with murder in the second degree and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree.
He was remanded and ordered to return to court on Thursday, according to the DA’s office. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years to life in prison.
Authorities have not released the teen’s name, because he is a minor.
“Our thoughts are with the family of William Alcindor and the young woman who is now recuperating from her injuries as we prosecute this completely senseless act of gun violence,” Queens DA Melinda Katz said in a press release.
The teen’s attorney, Jonathan Latimer of Queens Defenders, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Alcindor is the fifth person to be fatally shot in the 113th Precinct this year, where shooting incidents are down 18% compared to this time last year, according to police data compiled by Gothamist. The 113th Precinct includes Jamaica, St. Albans, Hollis, Springfield Gardens and South Ozone Park.