On a cold January evening in 2000, 18-year-old Melvin Anthony Nieves was fatally shot outside his home in Flushing, Queens. The incident occurred around 10:28 p.m. on Wednesday, January 19, outside the Carlyle Towers co-op on Franklin Avenue, a building where his father and grandfather had worked as managers for many years. Nieves, a male of Hispanic descent, was shot once in the head at close range.
Earlier that evening, around 8 p.m., Nieves had reportedly been involved in an argument
with a young man he confronted for urinating near the building. Following this initial dispute, the suspect, described as an 18 to 20-year-old Asian man, left the scene with potentially two other Asian individuals in what may have been a maroon Toyota Camry with tinted windows.
A short time later, the vehicle is believed to have returned, and the same man who had the earlier altercation with Nieves got out. Another exchange of words occurred, culminating in the fatal shooting. At the time of the shooting, Nieves was not alone, and detectives from the 109th Police Precinct were questioning witnesses.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, police were pursuing several leads and did not consider it a case without clues. However, as of late January 2000, no arrests had been made in connection with the murder of Melvin Anthony Nieves. His family and friends mourned the loss of the young man, who was described as a proud and protective person, always willing to help a friend. More than 150 people attended his funeral at St. Michael's Church, just a few blocks from where he was killed.
