{"id":201436,"date":"2026-04-18T00:43:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T00:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/201436\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T00:43:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T00:43:14","slug":"video-posted-by-eric-adams-shows-15-year-old-being-beaten-fatally-shot-in-queens-playground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/201436\/","title":{"rendered":"Video posted by Eric Adams shows 15-year-old being beaten, fatally shot in Queens playground"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Mayor Eric Adams on Friday posted alarming video to social media showing teenager Jaden Pierre being beaten and fatally shot at point-blank range<\/a> in a Queens playground.<\/p>\n

The 15-year-old victim was shot in the chest inside the\u00a0Nautilus Playground\u00a0<\/a>at\u00a0Roy Wilkins Park near Baisley and Merrick Blvds. in South Jamaica around 6:16 p.m. on Thursday, according to police.<\/p>\n

The cell-phone video Adams posted to X shows<\/a> Pierre being beaten by a group of teens who have him cornered, with his back against a fence near the park\u2019s comfort station. At least three rival teens can be seen repeatedly punching and kicking Pierre as he holds his hands over his head, trying to ward off the blows, the video shows.<\/p>\n

\"PolicePolice investigate the scene where a 15 year-old boy was shot and killed in Roy Wilkins Park in St. Albans, Queens, on Thursday, April 16, 2026. Kerry Burke\/New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

At one point, one of his attackers grab\u2019s Pierre\u2019s hoodie and throws him to the ground. He quickly regains his feet but the teens continue to pummel Pierre until gunfire rings out. The youth suddenly drops to the ground as the crowd scatters.<\/p>\n

The NYPD released images Friday of the suspected shooter, including one pulled from the cell-phone footage released by the former mayor.<\/p>\n

\u201cA 15-year-old kid was beaten and shot to death at a Southeast Queens playground yesterday. And somehow this isn\u2019t the top story,\u201d Adams said in his post. \u201cCredit to AG Letitia James & BP Richards for speaking up. Where is everyone else, including @NYCMayor Mamdani?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PolicePolice investigate the scene where a 15 year-old boy was shot and killed in Roy Wilkins Park in St. Albans, Queens, on Thursday, April 16, 2026. Kerry Burke\/New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Cops believe Pierre went to the park to participate in a water-balloon fight planned for earlier that day.<\/p>\n

A witness spotted the slain teen\u2019s parents arrive at the scene shortly after the shooting.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis mother ran up. She was leaning over the body. She was screaming, \u2018My baby! My baby!’\u201d said Keith Suggs, 62. \u201cThen the police arrived and said, \u2018Don\u2019t touch the body,\u2019 and they moved her away.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA man ran over after her, and the police grabbed him and took him to the side to talk to him,\u201d he added. \u201cIt must have been his father.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suggs said he saw dozens of teens \u201cmilling around\u201d the scene with their phones out.<\/p>\n

\u201cA massive amount of kids had their phones out filming,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a terrible tragedy. It happened in the park in the middle of the day. It\u2019s sick.\u201d<\/p>\n

Medics rushed the boy to\u00a0Jamaica Hospital<\/a>, but he couldn\u2019t be saved.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s such a tragic situation when any child is lost to gun violence, especially Jayden,\u201d the victim\u2019s aunt, who did not give her name, told the Daily News at the hospital. \u201cHe was a wonderful child. A very caring and loving boy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PolicePolice investigate the scene where a 15 year-old boy was shot and killed in Roy Wilkins Park in St Albans, Queens on Thursday, April 16, 2026. Kerry Burke\/New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Multiple witnesses told The News they heard gunfire break out near the basketball courts inside the playground.<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard a shot go off,\u201d said AJ, 19, who was playing basketball when the shooting occurred. \u201cI came running to see if he was all right, and I saw a kid dead on the ground. He was lying there dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew him from playing basketball,\u201d AJ added. \u201cHe was a good kid.\u201d<\/p>\n

The boy fell near the park\u2019s comfort station, witnesses said.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe 15-year-old victim was shot in the chest inside the\u00a0Nautilus Playground\u00a0at\u00a0Roy Wilkins Park near Baisley and Merrick Blvds. in South Jamaica on Thursday, April 16, 2026. (Julian Roberts-Grmela \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw the commotion,\u201d a man, who was at a laundromat across the street when the shots were fired, told The News. \u201cThe police were just arriving. I ran over to make sure my kids were all right, and I saw the kid lying there by the bathroom. He wasn\u2019t moving. He was dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

The teen\u2019s murder stunned parkgoers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s really sad,\u201d Herman Belvin, 60, said at Roy Wilkins Park. \u201cWhen my kids were younger, I used to bring them to this park. We need the cops to be present. It\u2019s a very active park.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe 15-year-old victim was shot in the chest inside the\u00a0Nautilus Playground\u00a0at\u00a0Roy Wilkins Park near Baisley and Merrick Blvds. in South Jamaica on Thursday, April 16, 2026. (Julian Roberts-Grmela \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers<\/a> at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Mayor Eric Adams on Friday posted alarming video to social media showing teenager Jaden Pierre being beaten…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201437,"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-201436","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\/201436","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=201436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}