{"id":135615,"date":"2026-02-16T23:22:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T23:22:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/135615\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T23:22:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T23:22:26","slug":"queens-laundromat-worker-defended-mom-in-clash-with-customer-before-being-shot-to-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/135615\/","title":{"rendered":"Queens laundromat worker defended mom in clash with customer before being shot to death"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just two hours before a gunman in camouflage executed a Queens laundromat worker<\/a> in front of the victim\u2019s mother,<\/a> the doomed employee got into a heated argument with a threatening customer demanding free detergent, the shell-shocked mom told the Daily News.<\/p>\n

Now victim Dominick Lowery\u2019s mother wonders if that customer came back to kill her son. The gunman was dressed in head-to-toe camaflouge and neither the mother nor cops know if he\u2019s the same man who menaced the victim earlier Saturday morning.<\/p>\n

Witnessing her 31-year-old son\u2019s shock slaying has left Selena Samuel inconsolable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI fainted and everything. It\u2019s just too much,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s no coming back from this.\u201d<\/p>\n

No arrests have been made in the 8:40 a.m. Saturday shooting at Wash & Fold Super Laundry at the Conduit Plaza shopping strip<\/a> near Springfield Blvd. and 144th Ave. in Laurelton.<\/p>\n

\u201cY\u2019all gon\u2019 get got!\u2019 the customer yelled, even flashing a knife, prompting Samuel, 57, who also worked at the laundromat,<\/a> to call 911 early Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the time the cops got there, he was gone already,\u201d said Samuel.<\/p>\n

Samuel had just finished her shift and was sitting in her car while her son was inside waiting to receive his paycheck when she heard the crack of a gunshot. Her son was shot in the temple as he exited the laundromat.<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News<\/p>\n

Police investigate the fatal shooting of Dominick Lowery outside a Queens laundromat on Saturday. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Samuel described to The News the hours leading up to her son\u2019s murder and her attempt to chase down his killer.<\/p>\n

Her son started working with her at the laundromat to help her out after complications from a colonoscopy left her weakened. He worked maintenance at the laundromat.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just focused on going to work and coming home,\u201d she said. \u201cHe wasn\u2019t out there, he ain\u2019t causing no trouble.<\/p>\n

\"Dominick<\/p>\n

Facebook<\/p>\n

Dominick Lowery. (Facebook)<\/p>\n

The laundromat has its share of unruly customers \u201cbut they go about their business and we go about our business,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But Saturday was different, she said. Early that morning, a customer she did not recognize walked in and started a wash.<\/p>\n

He asked one of the Spanish-speaking workers for free liquid detergent, then tried to snatch the jug from her hands.<\/p>\n

Samuel intervened to explain the laundromat doesn\u2019t give out soap for free.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018B\u2014, who are you? You don\u2019t even work here!\u2019\u201d she recounted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m here for three years,\u201d she says she responded. \u201cMaybe you haven\u2019t seen me but I work there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then she called Lowery over to help her. \u201cI said, \u2018Dominick, please explain to this man who I am and I work here.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo they got into a little altercation because he kept calling me a b\u2014-,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

At one point, the man flashed a knife, and Lowery asked him to take it outside, she said. The enraged customer left, yelling, \u201c\u2018Y\u2019all gon\u2019 get got!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Samuel called 911and police who responded told her to call them if he came back to start more trouble, she said.<\/p>\n

The man came back to quietly finish his laundary and left, she said.<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News<\/p>\n

Police investigate the fatal shooting of Dominick Lowery outside a Queens laundromat on Saturday. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

About two hours later a man in camo and a hoodie showed up and started eyeing the washers, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe looked at the machines and I walked out and said, Dominick, \u2018I\u2019m leaving. You sure you\u2019re okay? He said, \u2018Yeah, mom. I\u2019m waiting for my check.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

She got into in her car with her boyfriend, planning to grab breakfast at a nearby IHOP. Then her world fell apart.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe heard a pop,\u201d she said.\u201dWe figured it was somebody that hit a car.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then she saw her boss running outside frantically, she said,<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when I jumped out the car. I went and tried to chase the guy (in camouflage) and then I seen my son on the ground so I had to stop and go back to my son,\u201d Samuel said. \u201cHe shot him in the head, in the temple\u2026. My son was holding the door for somebody else and I think he came out the store and turned and shot him and then he ran.\u201d<\/p>\n

Medics rushed Lowery to Jamiaca Hospital, where he later died.<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News<\/p>\n

Police investigate the fatal shooting of Dominick Lowery outside a Queens laundromat on Saturday. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Lowery was the second oldest of her five sons and had no children or romantic partner, his mother said. He lived with his mother in St. Albans, about a mile-and-a-half from the laundromat.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was funny. He had respect. He was different,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going back to work anymore. That\u2019s it for me. I can\u2019t go to work and have a positive mind knowing my child got shot right in front of that place.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the killer, she said, she\u2019s hoping for justice.<\/p>\n

With Rocco Parascandola<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just two hours before a gunman in camouflage executed a Queens laundromat worker in front of the victim\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135616,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[262,263,266,85,267,9,24,264,12,63,261,122,124,123,265],"class_list":{"0":"post-135615","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-city","9":"tag-county","10":"tag-crime-and-public-safety","11":"tag-latest-headlines","12":"tag-local-news","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-new-york-county","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-nyc-crime","19":"tag-queens","20":"tag-queens-headlines","21":"tag-queens-news","22":"tag-sub-county-region"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}