A vibrant young life was tragically cut short on a summer afternoon in Brooklyn. On Saturday, August 22, 2020, Fabian Abney, a 20-year-old Black man, was shot and killed in Coney Island. The fatal incident took place around 1:57 p.m. inside the Carey Gardens Houses on West 25th Street. Responding to a 911 call, officers from the 60th Precinct and NYPD PSA 1 discovered Abney unconscious and unresponsive with a gunshot wound to his chest. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.
Living on Mermaid Avenue, not far from where his life was taken, Abney was remembered by his grieving mother as a "kind, caring, loving kid who did not deserve to die, period.” She had been deeply worried about the gun violence that plagued their community and had always tried to keep her son safe. Her desire was for her son to be remembered for his character and for justice to be served. A resident of the building where the shooting occurred described a chaotic scene, stating, “They were chasing this poor man all over, from the apartment to outside in the hallway.”
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, the investigation began. One man was taken into custody in connection with the shooting, though charges were not immediately announced. However, another report issued the following day stated that no arrests had been made and that the investigation was ongoing. The weekend Abney was killed was a particularly violent one in New York City, with multiple fatal shootings, including another in Coney Island just two blocks away from where Abney was murdered.
As time has passed, public information regarding any significant developments in the investigation into Fabian Abney's death has been scarce. There have been no subsequent news reports detailing any arrests made or charges filed against any suspects. The case, like many others in a city that experienced a surge in gun violence that summer, remains without a publicly reported resolution, leaving a family to mourn and a community to hope for justice.
