On a summer morning in Brooklyn, 35-year-old Darell Kingsberry was shot and killed on a sidewalk in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood on Saturday, August 15, 2015. Responding police officers discovered him with multiple gunshot wounds to his torso. He was transported to Woodhull Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased. At the time of the shooting, which occurred around 7:45 a.m.
outside a Baptist church on Van Buren Street, Kingsberry was reportedly in the company of an unidentified woman who was heard screaming in distress.
Two years prior to his death, Kingsberry had been released from prison after serving a 12-year sentence. His mother, Darnella Kingsberry, had pleaded with him to leave Brooklyn and its street violence behind and live with her in Maryland, but he chose to stay. He had been residing with relatives on Broadway Street, bordering Bushwick and Bed-Stuy, and was reportedly working odd jobs in an effort to rebuild his life. His death was a profound loss for his mother, who had already lost another son to gun violence years earlier.
The scene of the crime was marked by at least three shell casings, a black baseball hat, and a bloodied red and white shirt belonging to the victim. Witnesses described the gunman as wearing a red shirt and beige shorts. In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, no arrests were made, and the investigation into Darell Kingsberry's murder was ongoing.
