In the early hours of May 28, 2006, an 18-year-old Black male named Destin Mills was caught in a burst of gunfire at a Memorial Day weekend barbecue in the St. Albans neighborhood of Queens, New York. The festive gathering, attended by an estimated 150 people including the rapper Lloyd Banks, was abruptly shattered at around 1:00 a.m. when multiple shots were fired into the backyard of the home on 116th Avenue.
Witnesses reported hearing as many as 35 gunshots, creating a scene of chaos as partygoers scrambled for cover.
According to police reports and witness accounts, the violence erupted when a group of men on motorcycles pulled up to the residence and began shooting over the fence into the crowded yard. Amid the mayhem, Destin Mills was struck in the neck by a bullet. He was the only person injured in the shooting. The single gunshot left him paralyzed, a condition he would live with for the next nine years. The initial shooting incident set off a larger exchange of gunfire, with one neighbor describing the sound as akin to the Fourth of July.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, the New York Police Department launched an investigation. They were keen to interview Lloyd Banks, who was reportedly present but was unharmed, to determine what he might have seen. Four men who had been at the party were arrested. They were identified as Jesse Brown, 21; his uncle, Mark Brown, 40; Elliott Sharp; and Ronald Fleming, 36. However, law enforcement officials stated that they did not believe any of these four individuals were responsible for the shot that struck Destin Mills.
Jesse Brown was later charged with assault and obstructing governmental administration. Mark Brown, Elliott Sharp, and Ronald Fleming each faced charges of obstruction. Police recovered a. 45-caliber pistol at the scene. The investigation into who fired the paralyzing shot into the crowd continued, with the focus remaining on the unidentified men who had arrived on motorcycles and fled after the shooting. Despite the initial arrests, the individuals directly responsible for the shooting that altered the course of Destin Mills's life were not immediately apprehended. Following the shooting, Destin Mills endured years of health complications stemming from his paralysis. On December 21, 2015, at the age of 28, he passed away in a Brooklyn hospital as a result of those complications. Information regarding the final legal outcomes for the four men arrested at the party and whether any other suspects were ever identified or charged in connection with the shooting is not publicly available.
