Off-duty correction officer charged in uncle's murder on Manhattan street

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Thursday, January 2, 2020
Off-duty correction officer charged in uncle's murder on Manhattan street
Tim Fleischer reports on the off-duty correction officer charged in his uncle's murder in Manhattan.

UPPER WEST SIDE, Manhattan (WABC) -- An off-duty correction officer is charged in the fatal shooting of his uncle following a dispute inside a car on the Upper West Side Wednesday night.

The nephew, 30-year-old Cardell Gadsden, returned to the scene at Manhattan Avenue and West 107th Street hours after the 9:45 p.m. shooting and was taken into custody in the death of 37-year-old Steven Gadsden.

Police say Cardell Gadsden was one of three men in the vehicle who started arguing.

The driver stopped the car, the suspect and victim got out, and a shot was fired.

"I just heard the shots and I heard the guy hollering," witness Christine Wilson said. "He was like, 'Oh! Oh!' But I know he died because when I looked out my window, he was all covered up."

Steven Gadsden was struck in the torso and pronounced dead at St. Luke's Hospital.

The suspect fled, leaving the third man to tell responding police officers what happened. But Carddell Gadsden soon returned to the scene.

His weapon was recovered. The motive for the shooting is unknown.

Cardell Gadsden is a correction officer assigned to Rikers Island. He is now charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon.

"We are deeply troubled by these allegations and our condolences go out to the victim's family," Deputy Commissioner for Public Information Peter Thorne said. "An NYPD investigation is underway, and the officer has been suspended without pay pending the results of that investigation."

The death was the city's second homicide of 2020. The first happened earlier Wednesday in the Bronx, where a 29-year-old man was found with a gunshot wound to his neck and head in the Bronx River Houses on 174th Street.

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