In the late summer of 2020, the life of 23-year-old Dahmel Miller was tragically cut short in a violent encounter inside the Queensbridge Houses in Long Island City, Queens. On the evening of September 8th, at approximately 9:25 p.m., Miller, a resident of Fort Greene, Brooklyn, was shot on the first floor of a building on Vernon Boulevard. Despite being struck in the abdomen and buttocks, he managed to make his way up to the third floor before collapsing in a hallway.
Emergency services arrived at the scene and transported him to New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center, but his injuries proved to be fatal.
The investigation into the shooting quickly pointed to a dispute over a teenage girl with whom both Miller and the alleged shooter were romantically involved. This conflict is believed to have escalated to the fatal confrontation inside the public housing development. The authorities identified 24-year-old Patshawn McMitchell of Elizabeth, New Jersey, as the primary suspect in the killing. For weeks, McMitchell remained at large, prompting a search that extended beyond the city limits.
Approximately one month after the shooting, investigators tracked McMitchell to Watertown, New York, a city situated about 30 miles south of the Canadian border. He was taken into custody and subsequently charged with murder, criminal possession of a weapon, and acting in a manner injurious to a child under the age of 17. Additional charges of menacing, criminal contempt, and harassment were also filed against him. The arrest brought a measure of relief to Miller's grieving family and friends, who remembered him as an avid basketball fan.
