{"id":161808,"date":"2026-03-12T21:50:44","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T21:50:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/161808\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T21:50:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T21:50:44","slug":"accused-gangmember-arrested-for-2022-bronx-playground-shooting-death-of-nycha-worker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/161808\/","title":{"rendered":"Accused gangmember arrested for 2022 Bronx playground shooting death of NYCHA worker"},"content":{"rendered":"

An accused gang member was arrested Thursday for the 2022 shooting death of a hardworking NYCHA employee<\/a> fatally shot in a Bronx playground full of children, police said.<\/p>\n

Xavier Washington, 20, was taken into custody at Bronx Criminal Court, where he was appearing for a hearing in an unrelated attempted-murder case he is fighting, officials said.<\/p>\n

NYPD detectives recently identified him in the 2022 slaying of NYCHA maintenance man Nelson Mattocks<\/a>. A 16-year-old boy was arrested six days later and charged with murder. His name was not released because of his age.<\/p>\n

Cops at the time said they were looking for a second suspect who opened fire with the teen from scooter they were sharing.<\/p>\n

In December, Washington was one of 19 suspects, seven of them teens, busted as part of a major Bronx gang takedown. The suspects, accused of being members of Courtlandt Over Everything and the ABG Crips, were charged with conspiracy, attempted murder and other violent crimes for a series of shootings, including three near the Bronx Hall of Justice courthouse.<\/p>\n

The gang members were involved in at least seven shootings and four other violent acts against rivals between Dec. 19, 2024, and Dec. 9, 2025, according to prosecutors. Two people were shot and wounded during the spree.<\/p>\n

Washington was ordered held on $150,000 bail after the gang takedown, which he ultimately paid. He was making a followup appearance in that case when he was arrested on murder charges in Mattocks\u2019 slaying.<\/p>\n

Back on Aug. 19, 2022, Mattocks, 49, was eating his lunch in a playground next to the St. Mary\u2019s Park Houses near E. 156th St. and Forest Ave. in Longwood, where he worked, when two teens on a scooter drove past and sprayed the sidewalk with bullets<\/a> at about 4:15 p.m., police said.<\/p>\n

Bronx, NY. 08\/19\/2022: A 49 year old man was shot and killed Friday afternoon in the Bronx, by two men riding a scooter. The victim was shot five times at the intersection of East 156th St. and Jackson Ave. in the Melrose section of the Bronx. (Gregg Vi<\/p>\n

\"NelsonNelson Mattocks, 49, of Astoria, Queens, was eating his lunch inside a playground at the housing complex, where he worked, and was shot multiple times in 2022. He died a short time later at Lincoln Hospital. (GREGG VIGLIOTTI for New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were kids everywhere running and screaming,\u201d Kevin Milton, 57, a building porter who lives in the neighborhood, told The News at the time. \u201cWe ran over and tried to help him. He was hit in the neck, chest and side.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NYCHA worker\u00a0died a short time later at Lincoln Hospital.<\/p>\n

It took cops more than three years to identify Washington as the second suspect on the scooter.<\/p>\n

It was not clear Thursday which of the two suspects fired the fatal shots and if they were aiming at Mattocks or someone else in the park.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, it was wrong time, wrong place,\u201d the victim\u2019s daughter, Tyjai Mattocks,\u00a0told The News following the shooting<\/a>.<\/p>\n

bike<\/p>\n

\"PolicePolice in 2022 released video of a second gunman wanted in the shooting death of Nelson Mattocks, a NYCHA maintenance worker, who was killed on his lunch break. (NYPD)<\/p>\n

Mattocks lived in Astoria, Queens, and found his purpose in his work, his daughter said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a good dude,\u201d she said. \u201cHe worked. That was his everything \u2014 his job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bronx religious leader the Rev. Oswald Denis said that Mattocks \u201clost his life due to a senseless shooting in broad daylight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThose that knew him said he was a hardworking man \u2014 he always kept his area clean,\u201d Denis said.<\/p>\n

After the teen was arrested, police released video of the second suspect and asked the public\u2019s help identifying him.<\/p>\n

Washington lives in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx, according to cops.<\/p>\n

In addition to the attempted-murder gang takedown case, Washington is facing two other cases in Bronx Criminal Court: one for resisting arrest and weapons possession in February and one for robbery in March 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An accused gang member was arrested Thursday for the 2022 shooting death of a hardworking NYCHA employee fatally…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,262,263,266,85,267,9,24,264,12,63,261,265,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-161808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-city","tag-county","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-county","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-crime","tag-sub-county-region","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161808","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=161808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}