An 18-year-old male, Cedric Smalls, was fatally shot in Queens, New York, in a what was believed to be an ongoing war between rival gangs. On Friday, December 15, 2006, Smalls was standing outside a building at the Hammel Houses on Beach Channel Drive when a car approached. An unidentified man exited the vehicle and shot Smalls once in the chest. He was transported to Peninsula Hospital Center, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The shooting was one of several recent homicides that
had rocked the Rockaway community, inciting fear among residents who felt like prisoners in their own homes due to the persistent gun violence. Smalls, who went by the street name 'Scooby,' was a suspected member of the Bloods gang. His death was believed to be part of a violent turf war between a Hammels-based gang called GIB and gangs from Ocean Bay, including the Bloods.
In the wake of the shooting, detectives from the 100th Precinct and the Queens Homicide Unit investigated, but no immediate arrests were made in Cedric's murder. Police considered a man named Laton Spurgeon a person of interest in Smalls' death. However, just days later, on December 19, Spurgeon himself was shot and killed.
The cycle of violence continued when Cedric's own brother, Andrew Smalls, was arrested and charged with the murder of Laton Spurgeon. Authorities alleged that Andrew Smalls, along with three other individuals, was responsible for Spurgeon's death, which involved shooting him and running him over with a car. Andrew Smalls was subsequently arraigned on charges of second-degree murder, attempted murder, and criminal possession of a weapon.
