On a summer afternoon in Brooklyn, Deshawn Reid, a 28-year-old Jamaican man, was fatally shot in front of his apartment building in the Flatbush neighborhood on Friday, August 14, 2020. Reid, an aspiring rapper and singer known as 'Shawn Onit,' was a father to two young sons. He was remembered by friends and family as a kind, compassionate, and hardworking man who cared for his two blind sisters.
Just before the shooting, Reid had been talking with a friend near his home on Ocean Avenue
and Crooke Avenue. Witnesses reported that a silver Nissan Pathfinder SUV had been waiting nearby for about 20 minutes. Reid's mother, Hermena, later recounted that her son had received a phone call that lured him downstairs. When Reid's friend stepped away, an individual inside the SUV opened fire, striking Reid with a single bullet to the chest. He staggered down the street before emergency services arrived around 4:10 p.m. Medics rushed him to Kings County Hospital, but his life could not be saved.
The tragic event was part of a surge in gun violence across New York City. The shooting of Deshawn Reid was followed by two other fatal shootings on the same avenue within a week. One of the subsequent victims, Paul Pinkney, was reportedly paying his respects at a memorial for Reid when he was killed.
In the years following Reid's death, his family has continued to seek justice, holding vigils on the anniversary of his murder to keep his memory alive and to plead with the district attorney to bring his killer to justice. They remember him as a generous and awesome human being whose passion was music. As of August 2023, the New York Police Department has confirmed that the investigation into Deshawn Reid's homicide is still ongoing, and no arrests have been made.
