On the night of March 19, 2023, a violent encounter at a deli on White Plains Road in the Bronx cut short the life of 24-year-old Dayquon Simmons. The Black male was inside the establishment when gunfire erupted at approximately 11:48 p.m. Police responded to a 911 call reporting the shooting and discovered Simmons with a gunshot wound to his torso. Emergency services rushed him to NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi, but his injuries proved fatal, and he was pronounced deceased.
Another man, aged 42, was also struck by a bullet in his right leg during the incident and was taken to Montefiore Medical Center in stable condition.
The investigation into the shooting led to the identification and subsequent arrests of two suspects. A month after the incident, on April 19, 2023, the New York City Police Department apprehended 24-year-old Leon Smith, a resident of the Bronx. He was charged with murder, manslaughter, and criminal possession of a weapon. The search for others involved continued, and on July 5, 2023, authorities arrested a second suspect, 34-year-old Angel Pagan of New York. Pagan faced the same charges of murder, manslaughter, and criminal possession of a weapon.
As the case progressed, investigators sought to identify everyone connected to the fatal shooting. On July 19, 2023, the NYPD released photographs of an additional individual they believed had information pertinent to the case. This person was identified as a person of interest, and the police appealed to the public for assistance in identifying and locating him for questioning to further their ongoing investigation into the death of Dayquon Simmons.
