On the morning of July 25, 2024, the body of 43-year-old Julian Mejias was discovered in the back of a U-Haul van in the Bayside neighborhood of Queens, New York. An investigation revealed he had been shot multiple times in the head. One of his hands was bound with a zip tie, and his body was surrounded by bags of marijuana, indicating a violent end to what appeared to be a drug-related crime.
The events leading to Mejias's death began the night before, on July 24, 2024, when a group of
men from Baltimore traveled to Queens with the intention of robbing local marijuana dealers. Under the guise of purchasing marijuana, members of the crew met with Mejias and another unidentified dealer at a stash house in Queens. The supposed business transaction quickly turned into a violent robbery.
The dealers were held at gunpoint, restrained with zip ties, and forced into two separate vehicles, a Jeep and the U-Haul van. While the assailants stole approximately 30 pounds of marijuana from the stash house, Mejias and the other dealer were driven through Queens as their captors demanded drugs and money. During this ordeal, Mejias was fatally shot inside the U-Haul. After the murder, his captors abandoned the van with his body inside and fled back to Maryland.
A federal grand jury in Brooklyn subsequently indicted six men from Baltimore in connection with the robbery, kidnapping, and murder of Julian Mejias. The indicted suspects were identified as Jerome 'The Engineer' Waters, 23; Calvin Israel, 23; William Barnett, 27; Jalon 'Lips' Garrett, 20; Marcus 'Nacho' Pittman, 30; and Delonta 'D Lo' Pittman, 31. Waters and Israel were among the first to be arrested in Baltimore. Barnett was initially reported as being at large. Later reports indicated that all but Garrett were in custody, and Garrett was scheduled for a court appearance. The suspects were described as members of a violent robbery crew. If convicted, the men face mandatory life imprisonment.
