On a summer evening in Brooklyn, 22-year-old Armani Hamilton, a Black male, left his family's apartment in the Kingsborough Houses in Crown Heights to run a simple errand. He was going to a nearby store to buy cups and ice for his family. It was shortly before 6 p.m. on July 22, 2020, when shots rang out on Pacific Street, just steps from his home. Hamilton was found with two gunshot wounds to his torso and was rushed to Kings County Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
His family, who heard the gunshots, was left in shock and disbelief, with his mother expressing a belief that he was set up. Hamilton was remembered by his family as a kind person who worked with students with disabilities and would donate his own clothes to the homeless.
The investigation into Hamilton's death continued for nearly two years without an arrest. His family publicly pleaded for anyone with information to come forward. Then, in July 2022, a breakthrough in the case was announced. The New York Police Department arrested 20-year-old Leequan Lucas of Brownsville in connection with the fatal shooting.
Leequan Lucas was charged with murder, tampering with evidence, and criminal possession of a weapon. While the arrest brought a measure of hope for justice to Armani Hamilton's grieving family, the motive for the shooting was not immediately made clear by investigators. The killing was one of numerous shootings that contributed to a surge in gun violence in the area during that time.
