In the East Village of New York, a young father's life was cut short on the night of April 14, 2016. Elliot Caldwell, a 23-year-old Black or African American male, was fatally shot in the back at approximately 10:45 p.m. outside the Campos Plaza I houses on East 12th Street, near Avenue C. Caldwell, who lived nearby, was rushed to Bellevue Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The incident left his family and community reeling, with relatives describing him as a devoted father to his three-year-old son who had recently changed his life for the better.
The area where the shooting occurred was quickly marked by the presence of police detectives, with white cups indicating the locations of numerous spent bullet casings. According to police, the gunman, described as a man in a red hoodie, fled the scene immediately after the attack. The motive for the shooting was not immediately clear to investigators. Family members, overwhelmed with grief, gathered at the hospital, with an aunt of Caldwell expressing their profound sorrow and emphasizing his good heart and the love he shared.
The day following the tragic event, an arrest was made in connection with the murder. Theodore Holloway, also 23 years old and a resident of Campos Plaza I, was taken into custody by the New York Police Department. Holloway was subsequently charged with second-degree murder. Reports indicated that Holloway had a history of prior arrests. A street memorial was later held for Caldwell, with friends and family gathering to mourn their loss, some wearing T-shirts in his memory. Those who knew him from the neighborhood remembered him as a "good kid."
