On a street corner in the St. Albans neighborhood of Queens, a verbal dispute between two men escalated into a fatal encounter in the pre-dawn hours of April 16, 2016. The victim was Phillip Harris, a 32-year-old male resident of the area. The altercation took a tragic turn when a handgun was produced, and Harris was shot multiple times in the torso.
Emergency services, including officers from the 113th Precinct, responded to the scene at the intersection of Liberty and Brinckerhoff
avenues shortly before 6 a.m. They discovered Harris unconscious and unresponsive. He was quickly transported to Jamaica Hospital, but his wounds proved to be fatal, and he was pronounced dead upon arrival.
Following an investigation into the shooting, police identified Nakia Garnett, a 32-year-old man also from St. Albans, as the individual who allegedly shot Harris. More than two months after the incident, on June 30, 2016, authorities took Garnett into custody. He was subsequently charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon in connection with the death of Phillip Harris.
