In what police have described as a targeted, gang-related assassination, 19-year-old Daquon Powell was shot and killed on the evening of May 31, 2023, in Yonkers, New York. Powell, a male, was behind the wheel of a black sedan on Morris Street when the fatal encounter unfolded. He had just stopped the car in front of a residence around 8:20 p.m. As his 18-year-old passenger was getting out of the vehicle, an assailant ran to the driver's side window and fired six shots.
Powell was struck six times in the abdomen, while his passenger was hit once in the leg with a non-life-threatening wound. First responders found Powell unresponsive on the street next to his car and administered CPR before rushing him to a local hospital, where he died from his injuries.
Investigators quickly determined that the shooting was a premeditated ambush. The gunman and two accomplices had been lying in wait in a nearby driveway for Powell to arrive. The extensive investigation that followed connected the murder to a string of other recent, gang-related shootings in the area. Detectives learned that the primary assailant was from out of state and that his accomplices were also involved in a shooting on Livingston Avenue on May 13, which left a 42-year-old Brooklyn man in critical condition. Police also believe the same weapon used to kill Powell was used in another shooting on Riverdale Avenue on June 4.
Within a week of Powell's death, authorities made several arrests. The alleged gunman was identified as Matthew Quinones, a 20-year-old from Danbury, Connecticut. He was arrested in Danbury and extradited to Yonkers, where he was charged with second-degree murder. In addition to Quinones, police arrested multiple juvenile suspects, including a 17-year-old and a 16-year-old from Yonkers, who were present during Powell's murder and were also charged in connection with the Livingston Avenue shooting.
Matthew Quinones was arraigned on June 7, 2023, and held at the Westchester County Jail. In July 2024, Quinones, then 22, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Westchester County Court. As part of his plea, he was promised a sentence of 18 years to life in a New York state prison, with formal sentencing scheduled for August 13, 2024. The adolescent offenders were arraigned and held in a juvenile detention facility.
