In the early hours of a September morning, the life of 23-year-old E-Shawn Amir Berkley of Albany was tragically cut short. On September 5, 2021, Berkley, a Black/African American male, was fatally shot outside the Tropics Bar and Restaurant in Schenectady, New York. The incident, which marked Schenectady's first homicide of the year, unfolded around 12:44 a.m. in the establishment's parking lot.
Berkley was treated at the scene before being rushed to Ellis Medicine, where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy would later reveal the cause of death as perforations of the spleen, left kidney, heart, and right lung from a gunshot wound to his left flank.
The events leading to Berkley's death reportedly began with a dispute at a nearby Speedway gas station that spilled over to the nightclub. His mother, Monique Kirkley, believes her son was not the intended target of the violence that night. She recalled a sense of foreboding from her son, who mentioned being followed by a black car hours before his death. He had left his mother's home to buy diapers and food for his infant son, a testament to his efforts to be a good father despite a troubled past. At the time of his death, Berkley was awaiting sentencing for a felony count of hindering prosecution, for which he was out on bail.
For a long time, the case remained unsolved, leaving Berkley's family grappling with unanswered questions and a deep sense of loss. His mother tirelessly sought justice, expressing frustration over the lack of progress in the investigation. A breakthrough in the case finally came in September 2025, when police arrested Calvin Williams Jr., a 36-year-old man from the Bronx. After a thorough four-year investigation involving multiple law enforcement agencies, Williams was charged with second-degree murder in connection with E-Shawn Amir Berkley's death. Security footage from the nightclub reportedly showed a driver waiting in the parking lot for at least half an hour before the fatal shots were fired.
