Jihad Pack, a 15-year-old boy described as a wonderful young man and a good big brother to his younger sisters, was a familiar and welcome presence at the Cornerstone Community Center in his Harlem neighborhood. He particularly enjoyed spending time in the center’s recording studio. His family remembers him as a "good boy" who was not involved in gangs.
On the evening of October 7, 2026, Jihad was just steps from his home at the NYCHA Martin Luther King Jr. Towers on West 115th Street.
Around 6:20 p.m., in what prosecutors would later call an “orchestrated hit,” two assailants stalked him. Under the cover of construction scaffolding that stretched across the apartment buildings, one of the suspects opened fire, shooting four rounds from a 9mm pistol. Jihad was struck in the stomach. A 57-year-old man, an innocent bystander relaxing in a chair and smoking a cigar, was also hit, suffering a wound to his hand.
The mortally wounded teenager staggered toward his building before collapsing. A 28-year-old family friend named Kadisha rushed to his side, taking off her shirt to apply pressure to his wound. As he lay on the pavement, Jihad pleaded for his life. “He was saying, ‘Please! Please, I don’t want to die!’” she later recounted. His last words to her were, “Kadisha, I don’t want to die.” Emergency responders, alerted by the NYPD's ShotSpotter system, arrived to find both victims. They were both rushed to Mount Sinai Morningside hospital, where Jihad Pack was pronounced dead.
The New York Police Department launched an immediate investigation. According to prosecutors, the two suspects wore black facemasks and multiple layers of clothing to obscure their identities. After the shooting, the gunman passed the weapon to his accomplice, and the two fled in different directions. Responding officers pursued one of the suspects, a 15-year-old male, on foot. They apprehended him on East 116th Street as he was attempting to change his clothes. Police said they found the pistol, which had a bullet in the chamber and seven more in its high-capacity magazine, in his waistband.
The arrested 15-year-old, whose name was not released due to his age, was charged with murder, attempted murder, and criminal possession of a weapon. At his arraignment, he was ordered held without bail. “They caught the shooter and we’re glad,” Jihad’s aunt told reporters, although police clarified that the suspected gunman was the one who escaped and remained at large as of October 2026. Relatives mentioned that Jihad had been involved in an online dispute before the shooting, but police did not immediately confirm if this was the motive.
In the days following the shooting, a makeshift memorial of candles and flowers grew outside Jihad’s home. Neighbors and community leaders expressed their grief and fear over the violence that had claimed another young life. Iesha Lewis, the director of the community center Jihad frequented, lamented the loss of a "wonderful young man." Another resident, Jessie Pacheco, spoke of her fear for her own son, who was friends with Jihad. "That baby is gone," she said. "He hasn't even started his life.” The case remains open as the search for the second suspect, the alleged gunman, continues.
