On a summer morning in Queens, New York, a dispute believed to be over drugs turned fatal for 51-year-old Richard Brown. The male victim was outside a motel on Linden Place in Flushing on July 27, 2016, when the encounter escalated. At approximately 11:30 a.m., an argument took place between Brown and another man.
As Brown bent down to tie his shoe, the other man allegedly fired a single shot, striking Brown in the right side of the head.
Emergency services were called to the scene, and Brown was transported to New York Hospital Queens, where he was pronounced dead.
An investigation into the shooting led police to identify Robert Sasso, a 35-year-old man from Astoria, as the suspected gunman. In June of the following year, Sasso was indicted on charges of murder and weapons possession. Prosecutors stated that the shooting appeared to be drug-related and noted that Brown had a history of prior arrests for drug offenses. Sasso was subsequently arraigned and held without bail.
