Jafre Waugh, an 18-year-old male from Queens, New York, was killed in the early hours of Sunday, June 7, 2026, outside the NYCHA Woodside Houses in Woodside, the public housing complex where he lived. The shooting happened shortly after midnight, around 12:15 to 12:16 a.m., near 31-07 49th Street, close to 31st Avenue. Police responded after a 911 call reporting an assault and found Waugh suffering from gunshot wounds to his chest and back.
According to police accounts reported online,
Waugh had been standing in front of his home when four men approached on scooters or mopeds. The group opened fire, striking him multiple times before fleeing the area. Investigators recovered five bullet casings at the scene, indicating several shots had been fired in the attack. Emergency medical workers rushed Waugh to NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst, but he was pronounced dead there.
The shooting left the area around the Woodside Houses marked by a sudden burst of violence in the middle of the night. Waugh was killed just steps from home, in a place that should have been familiar and ordinary. What began as a quiet early Sunday morning became a homicide scene as officers secured the block, gathered shell casings, and began looking for the people who had ridden up, fired, and disappeared.
As of the available reports, no arrests had been made in Jafre Waugh's killing. Police had not released the names of any suspects, and no charges, court proceedings, trial dates, or convictions had been reported. The suspects were described only as a group of four males who arrived on scooters or mopeds, opened fire, and fled. Authorities also had not publicly established a motive, and the investigation remained ongoing.
