{"id":221848,"date":"2026-05-06T12:08:47","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T12:08:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/221848\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T12:08:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T12:08:47","slug":"springfield-gardens-teen-held-without-bail-for-murder-of-15-year-old-jaden-pierre-at-roy-wilkins-park-in-st-albans-da-qns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/221848\/","title":{"rendered":"Springfield Gardens teen held without bail for murder of 15-year-old Jaden Pierre at Roy Wilkins Park in St. Albans: DA \u2013 QNS"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Springfield Gardens<\/a> teenager is being held without bail after he was criminally charged with murder in the second degree, gang assault in the first degree and criminal possession of a weapon in connection with the shooting death<\/a> of a 15-year-old boy in Roy Wilkins Park in St. Albans<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Zahir Davis<\/a>, 18, of Springfield Gardens, was arrested by NYPD detectives assigned to the U.S. Marshal\u2019s Regional Fugitive Task Force on April 24, as he arrived on a flight from Kingston, Jamaica, where he fled after the fatal shooting of Jaden Pierre<\/a> of South Richmond Hill<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Davis was arraigned the next day before Judge Michael Hartofilis who remanded him into custody. If convicted, he faces up to 25 years to life in prison.\n<\/p>\n

Davis was also arraigned on a separate criminal complaint charging him with two counts of aggravated harassment in the second degree and harassment in the second degree for allegedly threatening to shoot his ex-girlfriend, who is the mother of his child on April 12.<\/p>\n

According to the charges, at approximately 6:15 p.m. on April 16, Jaden Pierre was at the Nautilus Playground at Roy Wilkins Park with a large group of teenagers who had gathered for a water gun fight advertised on social media. During the gathering, a group of boys attacked Pierre, punching and kicking him repeatedly. As the group of boys continued to surround the youngster, Davis allegedly approached Pierre, pulled out a silver firearm from his bag and shot him in the upper chest. Pierre fell to the ground as the crowd dispersed. Police from the 113th Precinct in Jamaica responded to a 911 call of a male shot in the vicinity of Merrick Boulevard and Baisley Boulevard where they found Pierre on the ground where he had collapsed. EMS rushed him to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition before he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead a short while later.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis murder shocked and outraged our city,\u201d Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. \u201cAs alleged, unarmed 15-year-old Jaden Pierre was mercilessly beaten by a group of teens in Roy Wilkins Park when defendant Zahir Davis pulled out a silver handgun and \u2014 without provocation \u2014 shot the victim once in the chest, killing him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Katz added that the gang assault investigation remains ongoing. Davis, who is a iBG4 gang member, fled to Kingston, Jamaica but relatives convinced him to return after learning of the fatal shooting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe defendant then allegedly took a flight to the island of Jamaica to evade responsibility,\u201d Katz said. \u201cThis senseless act of gun violence will not go unanswered. No parent should ever have to bury their 15-year-old child, and my office will vigorously prosecute this case to ensure justice for Jaden and his loved ones.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of his family members were outside the 113th Precinct on the morning of Saturday, April 25, and unleashed a barrage of profanity-laced threats at Davis, who was stone-faced and silent as detectives escorted him into the back of a waiting police vehicle to take him to his arraignment.<\/p>\n

\"AA woman who identified herself as Pierre\u2019s cousin shouted profanities at Davis following his perp walk. Photo by Dean Moses<\/p>\n

Several nights earlier, Pierre\u2019s relatives attended an emergency community meeting at the Roy Wilkins Recreation Center, where his aunt, Shakira Weston spoke on behalf of the family.<\/p>\n

\"VileneVilene Griffith, the mother of 13-year-old Sanjay Samuel, held a poster of her son who was fatally shot in Cambria Heights as he walked to school in September 2025.Photo by Ramy Mahmoud
\n\"HundredShakira Weston (r.) and her relatives attended an emergency community meeting at the Roy Wilkins Recreation Center. Photo by Ramy Mahmoud<\/p>\n

\u201cMy sweetheart nephew had a heart of gold, and he didn\u2019t deserve this,\u201d she said. \u201cHe loved cars and I wanted to buy him a car. I told him, \u2018If you go to college, Auntie\u2019s going to buy you a car.\u2019 That was my plan. And now, instead, I\u2019m planning for his funeral.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DaysDays before Davis was arrested at JFK Airport on Friday, April 24, Jaden Pierre was remembered by his aunt as having a heart of gold. Photo via Facebook<\/p>\n

Weston looked around the gym at the crowd which included her nephew\u2019s 9th grade classmates from Eagle Academy, and the mother of 13-year-old Sanjay Samuel, who was gunned down in the parking lot of a Cambria Heights Dunkin\u2019 Donuts while he walked to school in September 2025. Weston thanked the Southeast Queens community for the outpouring of love her relatives have felt since the fatal shooting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe family feels it, and we appreciate it, and we know that everyone was affected by this, not just us,\u201d Weston said. \u201cMy whole thing is that I don\u2019t want Jaden to have died in vain. I don\u2019t want Jaden to be this memory to be forgotten in the next two weeks. I hope this meeting brings changes and that we\u2019re not here again for another child.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Springfield Gardens teenager is being held without bail after he was criminally charged with murder in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221849,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[34447,44727,259,9,24,63,122,5193,124,123,79539,83043],"class_list":["post-221848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-criminal-possession-of-a-weapon","tag-gang-assault","tag-murder","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-district-attorney-melinda-katz","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-roy-wilkins-park","tag-zahir-davis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221848","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=221848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}