On the evening of December 12, 2023, the sound of gunfire pierced the air near Lower Onondaga Park in Syracuse, New York. Responding to multiple 911 calls and ShotSpotter activations, police discovered a 15-year-old male, Karon Works, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds near the 100 block of Cheney Street. Emergency responders provided immediate first aid before he was rushed to Upstate University Hospital.
Despite extensive life-saving efforts by medical staff, the young man succumbed to his injuries. Works was a student at OnTECH Charter High School, where he was remembered by a teacher as a dedicated student with a bright future and by his friends as a funny, caring person who loved to dance.
The investigation into the homicide was extensive, involving numerous interviews, widespread canvassing of the area, and the execution of multiple search warrants by Syracuse Police Department's Homicide Unit Detectives. The evidence gathered led investigators to identify three teenage suspects who allegedly lured Works into a wooded area of the park. It was there that they reportedly used two 9mm pistols to shoot him multiple times at close range, leaving him for dead in what a judge would later describe as an execution-style killing.
Within weeks of the shooting, the first arrest was made. A 16-year-old male was taken into custody and charged with Murder in the Second Degree and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree. He was already in custody on unrelated charges at the time the charges were filed on January 26, 2024. The investigation continued, and nearly a year later, on December 3, 2024, a second suspect, a 17-year-old male, was apprehended and faced the same charges. The third defendant, Ny'Zhon Thomas, who was 17 at the time of the incident, was also charged. Thomas eventually pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon. In October 2025, a judge sentenced the now 19-year-old Thomas to a term of 24 years to life in prison. The cases against the other two teenagers, Caleb Gibson and Ja'kye Jameson, are still pending.
