{"id":177992,"date":"2026-03-28T03:55:35","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T03:55:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/177992\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T03:55:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T03:55:35","slug":"kew-gardens-queens-bar-shooting-father-of-29-year-old-innocent-bystander-grieves-murdered-son","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/177992\/","title":{"rendered":"Kew Gardens, Queens bar shooting: Father of 29-year-old innocent bystander grieves murdered son"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOLLIS, Queens (WABC) — A grieving father is breaking his silence after his son was killed by a stray bullet<\/a> when gunfire broke out in a Queens bar on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old innocent bystander, Demitri McKay Jr., was shot in the left arm inside the restaurant and bar, Hangar 11, on Metropolitan Avenue.<\/p>\n

The bullet went through his arm and struck his heart, killing him.<\/p>\n

“Son. I wish it was me instead of you. They got the wrong Demitri. They got the wrong Demitri. I wish it was me so my son could live and raise his son,” said the victim’s father, Demitri McKay Sr.<\/p>\n

The words from McKay Sr. describe an emotional pain so unimaginable that it stabs you in the heart.<\/p>\n

“I keep thinking he’s going to come out the room. I keep thinking he’s going to say, ‘hey pop, hi pop,'” McKay Sr. said. “And my wife and I we keep going in there and sitting in his bed and we’ll lay on his bed, smelling his clothes. Oh god. Oh god.”<\/p>\n

McKay Sr. says he and his wife can barely breathe inside their home. Their 29-year-old son, Demitri McKay Jr., with his radiant smile, was killed by a stray bullet<\/a> meant for someone else.<\/p>\n

Police say it happened around 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday, inside a bar in Kew Gardens, Queens.<\/p>\n

McKay Jr. was an MTA bus driver. His bus route passes by the Mt. Olivet Baptist Church of Hollis, where his father is a deacon and chair of the trustee board.<\/p>\n

Jr. grew up in the church and served as an usher.<\/p>\n

“When he was young, he’d come down here and I’m in the trustee room and we’re doing business, and he’d come knock on the door and he’d say, ‘oh dad, mom wants you,’ and I’d say, ‘I’m busy son,'” McKay Sr. said.<\/p>\n

Police are looking for the two suspects<\/a> seen in a surveillance video.<\/p>\n

CeFaan Kim has the latest on the shooting.<\/p>\n

Investigators say they fired multiple shots into a crowd.<\/p>\n

McKay’s father says his son was a peacemaker full of love.<\/p>\n

He leaves behind an 8-year-old son.<\/p>\n

“I feel sorry for those assailants who killed my son because if they would’ve took the time to know him, they would’ve loved them too and I just want to say to those people who killed my son. I forgive you. I forgive you and I pray that one day your life will turn around,” McKay sr. said.<\/p>\n

———-<\/p>\n

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Copyright \u00a9 2026 WABC-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOLLIS, Queens (WABC) — A grieving father is breaking his silence after his son was killed by a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":177993,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[71995,9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-177992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-71995","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177992","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=177992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}