Two people were shot dead in a gang-style drive-by shooting in Queens Friday afternoon, police said.
Two others in the car, a 4-year-old child and a 28-year-old woman suffered minor injuries when the car overturned and struck a fence next to Kennedy Airport in-bound runway, officials said.
Police from the 105th Precinct rushed to International Airport Center Boulevard, near Rockaway Boulevard and JFK Airport in Springfield Gardens, Queens at around 11:50 a.m. and found the dark blue Nissan Maxima had struck a fence next to the airport and ended up in high, marshy weeds. They found the 26-year-old driver and 26-year-old front-seat passenger suffering unspecified gunshot wounds. The woman and child, apparently the son of the driver, were not hit by the gunfire and were not seriously hurt in the crash.
The two men were pronounced dead on arrival at Jamaica Hospital, investigators said. The woman and child were transported to Cohen’s Children Medical Center, but their injuries were not considered serious, police say.
According Assistant Chief Reuben Beltran, commander of Queens South, the victims were in the moving Nissan traveling west on Rockaway Boulevard when another unidentified vehicle, pulled to the side of the Maxima, possibly from the opposite flow of traffic, and fired at the front passengers, hitting the driver and passenger. The attackers in the unidentified vehicle then sped away in an unspecified direction, police said.
Police officials said they believe the woman is the girlfriend of the driver and confirmed the child is the son of the front-seat passenger.
Officials at a press conference this afternoon said they believe the shooting to be gang related, but would not speculate on which gangs were involved. The passenger was said to be on probation for unspecified crimes.
Rockaway Boulevard was closed to traffic in both directions due to the police investigation, causing heavy back-ups into the Five-Towns and Far Rockaway.
While there is no description yet on the attacking vehicle, detectives say high-quality surveillance video is being checked at the nearby International Logistics for JFK.
Anyone with information on this fatal shooting is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM, or on Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls are strictly confidential.
