On the evening of April 7, 2018, James Halsey, a 28-year-old man, was sitting on the stoop of his brownstone on Madison Street near Throop Avenue in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. At approximately 7:45 PM, a man approached and fatally shot Halsey in the head. Officers from the 79th Precinct were alerted to the gunshots by a nearby ShotSpotter audio sensor and rushed to the scene.
Responding emergency medical services pronounced Halsey dead at the location.
The investigation into the death of James Halsey led police to a suspect who lived just four blocks away from where the shooting occurred. In May 2018, authorities arrested 28-year-old Anthony Vasquez in connection with the killing. The arrest was made after an eyewitness identified Vasquez as the gunman. Police indicated that the shooting was the result of a dispute between Vasquez and Halsey.
Following his arrest, Anthony Vasquez was charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon. It was reported that Vasquez had a history of prior arrests for offenses including robbery and petit larceny. He had been paroled in March 2012 after serving two years in prison for robbery convictions.
