In the early morning hours of a summer Saturday in Queens, the life of John Jeff, a 28-year-old male off-duty New York City corrections officer, was tragically cut short. On August 15, 2020, at approximately 3:00 a.m., Jeff was fatally shot in the Springfield Gardens neighborhood. He had just left a party with a female friend and coworker when the incident unfolded at the corner of Ridgedale Street and Defoe Street.
Responding to a 911 call, police discovered Jeff unconscious with multiple gunshot wounds. He was rushed to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
The events leading to the fatal shooting began when the vehicle Jeff was a passenger in, a black Chevy Malibu, stopped at a fire hydrant. Their path was obstructed by a garbage truck, and as they tried to reverse, two other cars, a black Mercedes and a blue BMW, blocked them in. An argument erupted when Jeff, after identifying himself as a law enforcement officer and displaying his handgun, asked the drivers to move. The Mercedes moved, but their vehicle was then blocked by a white Infiniti. When someone from one of the vehicles approached their car, Jeff exited the vehicle again. A second altercation began, which quickly escalated, and Jeff was shot multiple times.
The assailants fled the scene in the three vehicles immediately after the shooting. Investigators found that the bullets were fired from two different guns and believe Jeff may have been shot with his own weapon, as his service firearm was missing from its empty holster and was never recovered at the scene. Despite the release of surveillance footage of the incident years later, the murder of John Jeff remains unsolved. The Queens District Attorney's office continues to investigate the cold case and has offered a substantial reward for any information that leads to an arrest. No suspects have been publicly identified, and no arrests have been made in connection with the homicide.
