Queens man arrested in deadly shooting of boy, 15, on subway, NYPD say

A Queens man has been arrested in Friday afternoon's deadly shooting of a teen on an A train subway, the NYPD announced Saturday.

Keyondre Russell, 18, of Far Rockaway, was charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon, according to an NYPD news release.

Police said Russell fired a single gunshot to the chest of 15-year-old Jayjon Burnett, of Far Rockaway, following an argument among two groups of teens on the southbound train The shooting occurred about 3:45 p.m. near the Far Rockaway-Mott Avenue station in Queens, where the train arrived.

Police pulled Burnett from the train and called paramedics to perform lifesaving aid on the train platform, NYPD Transit Chief Jason Wilcox said Friday evening. Burnett was taken to Cohen Children's Medical Center in New Hyde Park, where he was pronounced dead about an hour later.

Wilcox said the incident was not random and that "there was definitely a dispute escalating."

Although no police were on board the train, Wilcox said two officers were stationed on the subway platform. He said a crowd quickly dispersed from the platform after the train arrived, but investigators were searching the neighborhood for additional surveillance footage.

The killing is the eighth homicide of the year in the New York City subway system, in addition to a fatal stabbing on an MTA bus Sunday in the Bronx, Wilcox said.

Richard Davey, president of the MTA’s New York City Transit, said arrests have been made in each of the killings.

He assured the public the subways are safe and include 10,000 cameras throughout the city but said police were working to eliminate illegal guns and knives on the subway.

“Obviously any time an act of violence occurs in the subway it’s taken seriously,” Davey said. “We have work to do, no doubt about it. We’ve got to stop this.”