A 16-year-old suspected of gunning down a 13-year-old boy in a potentially gang-related burst of violence in front of a Queens Dunkin’ Donuts this week surrendered to cops Friday afternoon, law enforcement sources said.
Jaysohn Sykes — a student at Campus Magnet High School — turned himself in around noon at the 105 Precinct stationhouse, a day after NYPD officials identified him as the suspect in the Monday morning slaying of 13-year-old Sanjay Samuel outside the Springfield Gardens coffee shop, according to the sources.
Investigators believe Sykes — who goes by the name “Flex” — shot Samuel during a group brawl, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Thursday.
“He walks up to the group and confronts them. They’re yelling back and forth. Suddenly, the group scatters,” Kenny described.
“We believe at this point, our perpetrator pulls out and displays a pistol, which causes the crowd to disperse a little bit,” he continued.
“The perpetrator gets back on the scooter to leave. The crowd starts yelling at him again. He comes back, at which point he gets into a physical fight with our victim,” Kenny said.
“They start throwing punches at each other, and then a shot is fired. He goes down. Our perpetrator flees the scene.”
Samuel was known to post on social media about the SSM, or Sex Money Murder gang, a subset of the Bloods – leading investigators to suspect a gang motive, sources said.
However, the slain teen – who identified himself as “J2 Guns” on Instagram – was not listed in the NYPD’s “criminal group database” and had no criminal history, the police official said.
His family also firmly denied any gang involvement.
Sykes, meanwhile, has several social media postings showing a blood drop, but doesn’t specifically mention any gang, according to Kenny.
Sources say the US Marshals Service arranged for Sykes’ surrender.
Charges were not immediately filed.
Read the full article here