Cops on Thursday identified the suspect they are looking for in the fatal point-blank shooting of a Bronx father of two over the summer — giving new hope to the victim’s anguished family.
The NYPD named Jermaine Kelty, 51, as the suspect in the July killing of 46-year-old Shaun Whitchett. They released a photo of Kelty and asked the public’s help tracking him down.
“He needs to step forward for this. Just as simple as that,” said Whitchett’s older brother, who gave his name only as Leroy. “This dude took a shining light away from us. There’s consequences to your actions.”
Whitchett dodged death in 2001 when he happened to have the day off from working in one of the Twin Towers for American Express on Sept. 11.
“Fortunately his days off were Tuesdays,” Leroy said.
But fate caught up with Whitchett 25 years later.
He was standing with a group of men outside of a liquor store on White Plains Road near Archer St. in Parkchester when his killer, wearing a blue raincoat, pistol-whipped him before shooting him in the forehead about 8:10 p.m. July 6, according to police.
Medics rushed Whitchett to Jacobi Medical Center, where he died. He lived about half a mile from where he was killed, according to cops.
Shaun Whitchett (pictured) was fatally shot outside a liquor store on White Plains Rd. near Archer St. in the Bronx on July 6. (Courtesy of family)
Whitchett leaves behind two sons, ages 17 and 24, along with his mother.
Leroy, 50, described his younger brother as a bubbly guy who “could have taken over the world.”
“My brother was a star. Everybody loved my brother. He was great at everything he did. He was the youngest and we loved him,” he said. “Our world is forever changed. I wish this on nobody.”
Police at the scene Shaun Whitchett, 46, was pistol-whipped before being shot in the head by a man in a raincoat in the Bronx on July 6. (Kerry Burke / New York Daily News)
Three months after his brother’s murder, Leroy still has a hard time grasping his family’s new reality.
“I still don’t believe it. This is something that just should not have happened, and we can’t go back,” he said. “It was me, him and my mother. It was always us three and now that’s forever fragmented. The pain is overwhelming.”
The family has renewed hope now that the NYPD has publicly identified a suspect.
“Hopefully this conjures something up for somebody somewhere,” Leroy said of the new info. “I want justice for my brother.”
Police at the scene where they said a 46-year-old man was pistol whipped then shot in the head by a man in a raincoat in the Bronx on July 6. (Kerry Burke / New York Daily News)
Kelty was previously charged with attempted murder after he and two other shooters gunned down a man outside a Unionport Road housing complex near McGraw Ave. on Nov. 5, 1998, cops said.
It was not clear Thursday if Kelty was ultimately convicted in that case. He has a total of five prior arrests.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.