In the early morning hours of April 22, 2017, a young man's life was cut tragically short in Binghamton, New York. Brandon Hernandez, a 22-year-old male, was fatally shot outside an after-hours club located at the intersection of Orton Avenue and Main Street. The attack was described as an 'execution-style killing,' where Hernandez was shot multiple times in the head at close range.
The establishment, which had been operating illegally for months and was a source of neighborhood complaints, was shut down following the homicide.
The investigation into Hernandez's death led police to 27-year-old Jihad Ray. In October 2017, Ray pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in connection with the killing. Under the plea agreement, he was expected to receive a sentence of 18 years in prison. Initially, a Broome County grand jury had indicted Ray on charges of second-degree murder and second-degree criminal use of a firearm.
The story, however, did not end with one life lost and a single perpetrator brought to justice. Six days after Hernandez's death, on April 28, 2017, a retaliatory act of violence unfolded. On this day, friends and family of Brandon Hernandez, including a man named Jabari K. Ashe, gathered for his funeral, adhering to an all-white dress code. Following the service, Ashe and several others attended a barbecue where they planned to seek revenge for Hernandez's death.
Their target was a man named Tyquan Gumbs, whom they believed was involved in Hernandez's killing. That evening, Ashe and his associates traveled to Fayette Street in Binghamton where Gumbs was playing basketball. Gumbs was shot and killed. Police body camera footage from the scene of Hernandez's shooting and later at the hospital showed a distraught Ashe mourning his friend. In May 2017, Jabari K. Ashe was indicted for the murder of Tyquan Gumbs. Following a jury trial, he was convicted of murder in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. For his role in the retaliatory killing, Ashe was sentenced to a prison term of 25 years to life.
