In the early evening of March 5, 2019, Pernell Cudjoe, a 27-year-old male, was fatally shot in the South Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, New York. The incident occurred just before 7 p.m. near the intersection of 180th Street and 145th Avenue in Springfield Gardens. Cudjoe was discovered by police to be unresponsive with a gunshot wound to his chest. He was rushed to Jamaica Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. At the time of his death, Cudjoe lived just a few blocks away from the scene of the shooting on 145th Drive.
The investigation into the death of Pernell Cudjoe led to an arrest over a month later. On April 11, 2019, police took 18-year-old Keanu Suckoo into custody. Suckoo was charged with murder, attempted murder, and criminal possession of a weapon. The events of that fatal evening began while Cudjoe was sitting in a vehicle with his brother. Suckoo approached the car, and an altercation, both verbal and physical, ensued. When Suckoo brandished a firearm, Cudjoe and his brother attempted to flee on foot. Suckoo fired two shots at the fleeing men, striking Cudjoe once in the back.
The case against Keanu Suckoo progressed through the justice system, and in September 2021, at the age of 21, he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter in the first degree in Queens Supreme Court. According to the Queens District Attorney's Office, video surveillance captured Suckoo pulling out a gun and firing at Cudjoe and his brother. On October 25, 2021, a judge sentenced Suckoo to 19 years in prison, to be followed by five years of post-release supervision.
