Quantcast

23-year-old father gunned down in Springfield Gds. park

By Sophia Chang

Jesse Robinson of Springfield Gardens was found near the corner of 139th Avenue and Springfield Boulevard with three gunshot wounds to his stomach around 6 p.m. Saturday, according to police. He was taken to Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica where he later died from his injuries, police said.There were no arrests and the investigation was ongoing.Montbelier Park is a well-kept park with smooth basketball courts and a playground that on a recent morning was crawling with children.”We come to this park every morning,” said one resident who declined to give her name while looking after her little girl playing on the jungle gym. “I've never seen anything (violent) before.”Residents who lived near the park said they had heard no sounds of a struggle nor gunshots until police sirens alerted them to the situation Saturday evening.The New York Post reported that Robinson had a 3-year-old son and worked in a supermarket, according to friends. The paper reported that Robinson lived in a state-run shelter, but police gave a Springfield Gardens address as his residence.No one answered the door at the 144th Avenue house near North Conduit Avenue that police said was Robinson's home, a tidy white house with neatly kept front gardens of fake and real flowers and cheerful yard figurines.One neighbor said that while he did not know the Robinson family well, they had lived in the white house for about 10 years.”The family is very quiet,” he said, adding that he had no idea that a young man lived with what the neighbor said was a group of older people, including a taxi driver and three women. “As far as I know, they're very well-to-do, quiet people.””Usually this is the type of neighborhood that we like – quiet,” said the neighbor, who declined to give his name.Reach reporter Sophia Chang by e-mail at news@timesledger.com, or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.