On a tragic Wednesday afternoon, August 19, 2020, the life of 18-year-old Malcolm Amede was cut short in a burst of gunfire. Of Trinidadian descent, the young man had recently celebrated the birth of his son just two weeks prior. Amede was walking near the corner of Woodruff Avenue and Ocean Avenue in Brooklyn, close to Prospect Park, when violence erupted around 3:30 p.m.
He was reportedly on his way to a vigil for another victim of gun violence, Paul Pinkney, who had been killed in the same area just days before. This wave of violence had shaken the neighborhood, with Amede being the third person killed within a two-block radius in less than a week.
During the incident, Amede was shot in the chest and arms. A 33-year-old man, Sam Metcalfe, who was walking to a nearby store with his wife, was also struck by the gunfire, suffering a wound to his stomach. First responders rushed both men to NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County. While Metcalfe survived and was listed in stable condition, Amede succumbed to his injuries at the hospital. The shooter reportedly fired from a parked gray BMW before fleeing the scene.
For nearly a year, the case remained unsolved, leaving Amede's grieving family without answers. Then, in July 2021, the New York Police Department announced an arrest in connection with the fatal shooting. A 20-year-old suspect was taken into custody and faced a series of serious charges. He was charged with murder, two counts of assault, and four counts of criminal possession of a weapon for his alleged role in the shooting that killed Malcolm Amede and wounded the second man.
