Parkchester Murder Not Gang- Related-Mother insists
By David Greene
BRONX, NEW YORK (BRONX NEWS)- The mother of a Bronx gang member, who was shot dead as he shielded his one year-old child, claims that his death was not 'gang-related.' The mother continues to believe it was not gang related even after NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton publicly stated that it was.
Regina McQueen fumed, "They had gang-related in the paper, but it wasn't gang-related. Even the assistant district attorney was telling me it wasn't gang-related."
Her son Allen McQueen, 21, was taking his daughter Taylor to the Taylor Playground on July 7, when he was hunted down in the street and shot outside the playground gates. Somehow McQueen managed to shield Taylor from the barrage of gunfire.
After McQueen's death police released a surveillance video of the suspect who was observed laughing after firing four-shots at McQueen at point-blank range, before jumping into a nearby get-a-way vehicle.
On July 21, detectives announced the arrest of James Capers, 22, who was charged with murder, manslaughter and weapons possession. The McQuuen family would like to see a charge of child endangerment added to the charges that Capers now faces.
The heartbroken mother recalled how McQueen grew up on Taylor Avenue in the Unionport Section, had attended Jeffery Rappaport High School and enjoyed singing and playing basketball. She added, "He was working on a rap song. It sounds kind of good, too bad he didn't finish it."
Regina McQueen admitted her son was a gang member and believes Capers to be from a rival gang-- but could not offer an explanation or motive for the killing.
One source in West Farms described an all-out gang war, when he stated last month that a De facto war was in effect, adding, "The situation is there are the Bloods and Crips gangs and the Crips are getting bigger and what is happening is that their initiation is to shoot the enemy like the Bloods and the Latin Kings."
The source claimed that this new turf war was taking place in Bedford Park, Kingsbridge, Fordham, Tremont, West Farms and Parkchester, but the claim could not yet be confirmed by law enforcement officials.
