Photo of Bed-Stuy Homicide Suspect Released 9 Years Later
BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — Almost a decade after a Bed-Stuy homicide, police released a photo of a suspect.
On September 19, 2011, around 9:45 p.m., police responded to a 911 call about a man shot in front of 977 Greene Avenue in Brooklyn. That man was 22-year-old Jamal Singleton.
He was shot in the back in his neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant. The suspect fled the scene westbound on Greene Avenue, and Singleton was taken to Woodhull Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Almost nine years have passed since then without anyone being charged with Singleton’s murder, but this week police released a photo of a suspect from a surveillance video taken shortly after the incident occurred. Police say the video is on the street and was taken in the same vicinity as the crime.
Cops say the still was received shortly after Singleton’s death and was in their files since then, and originally didn’t make it to the media because it’s hard to identify who is in the photo.
Singleton’s mother, Monica Cassaberry, has spoken up actively in the years since her son was killed. Last time Bklyner spoke with Cassaberry in 2017, she said she remained hopeful her son’s case would be solved.
“I have my moments where I shut down,” Cassaberry said. “I try my best to stand strong. Not because I’m not trying to show weakness, but it’s to show them what it is to be a mother who is surviving, trying to educate you to survive like I am.”
Cassaberry told abc7 news this week that she was shown a surveillance video at the precinct that captured the shooting and also a clearer picture of the perpetrator’s face.
“Det. McDonald is the one who told me they cannot find it, they only have stills,” she told abc7. “How do you only have stills when I sat in the precinct and we watched it?” She added that police are still searching for the tape.
The investigation is ongoing. The individual in the photo is male, approximately 6’2” tall, and was last seen on the day of the crime wearing a blue baseball cap and blue sweatsuit.
Anyone with information in regard to the identity of this male is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or on Twitter @NYPDTips.