On a summer evening in Hempstead, New York, a son's attempt to defend his mother's honor ended in his own violent death, leaving a family shattered and a community searching for answers. Jonathan Wade, a 55-year-old male, was fatally shot on June 30, 2015, in a tragic culmination of events that began with an assault on his elderly mother. A married father of two who worked as a respiratory therapist, Wade's life was cut short in a hail of bullets just one day after he had been arrested for
confronting the very individuals he believed had harmed his mother.
The sequence of events leading to the fatal shooting started the day prior, when Wade's 77-year-old mother, Betty Cater, was reportedly assaulted by a group of youths outside a property she owned on Albermarle Avenue. Distraught and angered by the attack on his mother, Wade went to the location to confront the individuals involved. This confrontation, however, resulted in his own arrest on charges that included reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a weapon.
After his release from custody, a persistent Wade returned to the same street the following evening. He reportedly called 911 to report a disturbance involving the same group of people. As he drove his car past them, shots rang out, striking both Wade and his vehicle. Mortally wounded, he managed to drive for about three blocks before his car crashed through a fence and into the bleachers of a nearby middle school. The crash resulted in injuries to three children who were in the area at the time. Emergency services transported Wade to a nearby hospital, but his injuries proved fatal, and he was pronounced dead.
The Nassau County Police Department immediately launched a homicide investigation, focusing on the possibility that the shooting was directly related to the earlier altercation involving Wade's mother. In the days following the shooting, authorities announced a reward for any information that would lead to the arrest of the perpetrator or perpetrators. Despite public pleas for assistance and an ongoing investigation, the case grew cold. Shortly after the murder, a local gang bust resulted in several arrests on unrelated charges, but no one was ever charged in connection with Jonathan Wade's death. Online records and news reports in the years that followed have not provided any updates on arrests or the identification of any suspects in the case.
