A reputed gangbanger was ordered held with out bail Sunday within the capturing demise of a 15-year-old boy on a Queens subway practice — whereas claiming he was the actual sufferer.
Keyondre Russell’s lawyer stated his 18-year-old shopper was jumped by a gaggle of individuals and shot within the leg, with the bullet then probably passing by means of Russell’s limb and putting Jayjon Burnett, mortally wounding him.
However prosecutors scoffed on the notion, and Russell ended up being remanded at his arraignment on homicide expenses within the Saturday subway killing of Burnett, who was shot within the chest throughout an argument on an A practice in Far Rockaway.
In court docket, Russell’s lawyer insisted to Decide Denise Johnson that the 18-year-old wasn’t a killer or a gang member.
“My shopper is a sufferer — not solely a sufferer being jumped however of a gunshot,” Authorized Assist lawyer Peter St. George Davis instructed the choose.
“It appears to me that this can be a case that's not a homicide case,” he stated. “I don’t imagine that it’s a manslaughter case. I don’t imagine that it ought to have even been charged.”
Russell allegedly instructed police that he was drunk on the practice when he “heard a gunshot.
“I don’t know what his downside is with me,” he stated of Burnett. “I received shot. I heard a gunshot, and I don’t know the place it got here from.”
Davis stated Russell, who dropped out of college after the tenth grade, doesn't have a document and nonetheless lives at house along with his mom and has six siblings.
However Assistant District Lawyer Christine Occhiogrosso referred to as the slaying “a gang-related incident,” and stated Russell was picked out in two lineups and “a number of identification procedures.”
In a press release Sunday, Queens DA Melinda Katz referred to as the killing “simply tragic.”
“At a naked minimal we in New York Metropolis have a proper to make use of our subways and have the power to get house safely to our houses,” Katz stated. “The defendant will probably be held accountable and has been charged with homicide.”
Russell, who wore a tan sweatshirt and denims, confirmed no emotion in court docket.
He's charged with two counts of second-degree homicide and second-degree legal possession of a weapon, in keeping with court docket data.
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