By Ivan Pereira
Police have not given any official updates on the investigation into two murders that took place last week in St. Albans, but an elected official said investigators are hard at work finding the killers.
City Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans) said investigators involved in the cases have told him that they have strong knowledge about the suspects who killed Tony McFadden and Damien Beamon in two separate incidents.
“I understand they know who both [suspects] are. It’s just a matter of tracking them down. People are aware of who the shooters are,” he said Monday.
McFadden, 26, was shot at the door of his home on 119th Road and 177th Street Oct. 11 after the gunman rang the doorbell and called for him, police said. Dozens of friends and family, many of whom wore T-shirts that bore his face, attended McFadden’s funeral Sunday evening at the Harvest Kingdom Church at 109-50 Merrick Blvd.
McFadden was the son of Tony McFadden Sr., the pastor of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ on South Road.
Beamon was killed less than 12 hours after McFadden was shot after he walked out of a bar near the St. Albans Long Island Rail Road station, according to police.
A police spokesman would not comment on the investigation into the murders. Comrie said he has been talking with community members in southeast Queens to try and find a solution to the increased violence in the neighborhood. He indicated that the killings were linked with a rise in gang activity in the neighborhood.
There have been 54 reported murders in Patrol Borough Queens South, which covers the southern Queens areas patrolled by the 100th, 101st, 102nd, 103rd, 105th, 106th, 107th and 113th precincts, according to the latest NYPD statistics released Oct. 3.
During the same period last year, there were 46 reported homicides, according to the statistics.
Reach reporter Ivan Pereira by e-mail at ipereira@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4546.
