In the early hours of a summer morning in Queens, the life of a young man was cut short in a burst of violence. Tyda Darden, a 21-year-old Black male, was found deceased on June 6, 2022. The scene of the incident was at the entrance to Rockwell Studios, a recording facility housed in an old warehouse at 1080 Wyckoff Avenue in the Ridgewood neighborhood. Police from the 104th Precinct responded to a 911 call at approximately 1:25 a.m.
and discovered Darden in a pool of blood with a fatal gunshot wound to the head. Emergency medical services arrived at the location but were unable to save him, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The investigation into the shooting, described as being gang-related, led to the apprehension of four individuals. The first arrest was made on June 25, when Alutheimeen Imadudden, 21, of Brooklyn, was taken into custody. In October of the same year, detectives from the NYPD's Regional Fugitive Task Force arrested three more suspects. Warren Burgess, 33, of Brooklyn, Savion Johnson, 19, of Brooklyn, and Omar Gaines, 19, of the Bronx, were rounded up and charged in connection with the fatal shooting.
All four men, including the previously arrested Imadudden, faced a slate of serious charges for their alleged roles in Darden's death. The charges brought against each of them were murder, assault, reckless endangerment, and criminal possession of a weapon. The motive for the shooting was not made clear in the initial reports following the arrests.
