Family and friends hold vigil for man killed outside Queens NYCHA complex

CeFaan Kim Image
Thursday, October 10, 2024
Vigil held on Queens man's 40th birthday after he was shot and killed
Vigil held on Queens man's 40th birthday after he was shot and killedCeFaan Kim has more on the vigil for Rahsaun Williams, who would have turned 40.

FLUSHING, Queens (WABC) -- Family and friends held a vigil on what would have been Rahsaun Williams' 40th birthday after he was shot and killed at the Pomonok Houses in Queens on Friday.

"This is unreal. I'm living a nightmare. I'm living my worst nightmare." William's mother Beverly Williams said.

Williams said a man groped Rahsaun's girlfriend and she called him for help.

Rahsaun confronted the man to defend her, Williams said.

Police said that man then pulled out a gun and shot Rahsaun three times.

By the time Williams ran out to see her son, the ambulance sped past her.

Police are still searching for his killer.

"This is what he do. He sees he's more about not letting anybody be taken advantage of," Williams said.

"I'd be coming with groceries and he'd be standing in front of the building with his friends. And I'd come across and he would just come on over to me and just grab the court from the bags. He was like, I got it, you know, it's okay. I got I got it. No, no, no. I got it. I got it," Carmen Morales, a friend said.

Messages at his vigil tonight read, "I thank you for always making me smile or laugh even when some days I didn't have a reason to."

Rahsaun was known for his sense of humor and dressing up as Martin for Halloween.

When he was 2-years-old his mother nicknamed him Badness.

"When I was pregnant with him, I fell in the bathtub nine months, broke his ankle. I knew he was to be a little some kind of problem, but he didn't. He was he was a good kid," Williams said.

Rahsaun leaves behind a 17-year-old daughter and two sons, ages four and two-years-old.

Family members were heartbroken his two sons would never get to know their father, the way the folks out here and family knew him.

A GoFundMe has been set up to help Rahsaun's family.

* Get Eyewitness News Delivered

* Follow us on YouTube

* More local news

* Send us a news tip

* Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts

Submit a tip or story idea to Eyewitness News

Have a breaking news tip or an idea for a story we should cover? Send it to Eyewitness News using the form below. If attaching a video or photo, terms of use apply.

Copyright © 2024 WABC-TV. All Rights Reserved.