'Our Children Of Southeast Queens Are Dying': Residents Call For More Resources After Fatal Shooting Of 14-Year-Old

Residents and elected officials are calling for the city to invest more resources into the community of South Jamaica, Queens, after 14-year-old Aamir Griffin was shot and killed while playing basketball at Baisley Park Houses on Saturday night.

It was Baisley Houses’ first shooting since May of last year, according to the NYPD. Griffin was a freshman at Benjamin Cardozo High School and police believe he was an unintended target. A fundraising account has been set up to help Griffin's family pay for burial costs.

“A child has lost his life. It’s not about taking pictures,” AU Hogan, president of the tenants association at Baisley, told a group of reporters on Tuesday. “Come into — come into how we’re hurting here.”

Akiba Griffin, Aamir's aunt, added, "It’s sad that the only time we can get coverage in this community is when someone loses their life or when someone is hurt."

They were joined by other community leaders and a team of anti-gun violence advocates from the organizations Life Camp and 696 Build QueensBridge, those from the neighborhood working on the ground to prevent gun violence.

The city’s Public Advocate, Jumaane Williams, said the lack of opportunities for young people in the neighborhood, and safe spaces for them to congregate, often led to death or incarceration.

“It’s not about gangs and thugs,” Williams said. “This is about our children. His name was Aamir, and he was playing basketball. That’s what 14-year-olds supposed to be doing. Playing basketball.”

The community is calling for an influx of resources. Specifically, they want the city to re-open the community center at Baisley Houses, which has been closed since 2008. Hogan said the space housed a dance room, large kitchen and gathering spaces to play games or hold meetings for the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. It now sits vacant.

Community leaders also want the only nearby community center for youth, run by the Police Athletic League, to remain open well into the evening and on weekends. They want more employment opportunities for young people, and for the city to support churches, schools and other venues to stay open at nights and weekends for people to gather.

“We need these demands met immediately,” said City Councilwoman Adrienne Adams. “Our children of Southeast Queens are dying.”

The Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice has noted a recent spike in shootings in Southeast Queens, saying its Office to Prevent Gun Violence — which supports groups like Life Camp — had deployed more violence prevention efforts to the area along with help to deal with trauma, like counselors.

The city also recently announced an additional $250,000 in funding for crisis management in Southeast Queens, in order for anti-gun violence groups to hire more staff.

“We’re devastated by the tragic death of Aamir Griffin,” said Avery Cohen, a spokesperson for Mayor Bill de Blasio. “To ensure all of our city neighborhoods are safe for all its residents, we’ll continue to look at ways to improve the situation in the Baisley Houses, including around community centers — both within the NYCHA complex, as well as the nearby Police Athletic League facility.”

But long-time community residents said the city has neglected their neighborhood for decades. They said that preventing gun violence, and deaths like Griffin’s, took far more than policing.

“We matter, we care, we got working families here,” said Carl Fuller, a 40-year resident of Baisley Houses whose own son was shot and killed more than a decade ago.

Fuller said that, as with his son’s death in 2007, young people in Baisley Houses this week were left to deal with the trauma of Griffin’s killing largely on their own.

“There’s no counselors out here,” Fuller said. “These kids went to school the next day, crying.”

The NYPD has not made any arrests. The department said they are looking for two people of interest.

Two officers were posted at the basketball court when Griffin was fatally shot.

Hogan, the tenants association president, said the officers tried to help the boy. It’s a point he emphasized, saying that sometimes officers will leave a victim to run after a gunman.

“Those cops responded and jumped right on this young brother and tried to revive him,” he said.

On Tuesday, several officers were standing guard over the same basketball court, which was now covered in candles.

"It is not fair to the children in this community to have to see their friend in a casket," Akiba Griffin said. "We are calling on the mayor's office to step it up and do something so that this will never happen again.”