By Reuven Blau , Rocco Parascandola and Graham Rayman
New York Daily News
NEW YORK CITY — A 27-year-old off-duty correction officer waiting in a car at a red light in Queens early Friday was killed by a gunman who rode up on a motorcycle and opened fire, police and sources said.
The suspected road rage incident happened about 1:40 a.m. at 103rd Ave. and 120th St. in Richmond Hill.
Police sources said Johnathan Narain was on his way to work at the Anna M. Kross jail on Rikers Island. He was behind the wheel of a red 2013 Honda Accord and was stopped at a red light when a man on a motorcycle pulled up next to him.
Narain had just made a U-turn to stop for food at a nearby store, and had a brief encounter with the shooter. He got the food and back back into his car when the shooter pulled alongside him.
The two of them exchanged words possibly over the U-turn made by Narain, police said, then the suspect fired, striking the victim in the left temple, before speeding away.
Narain was found by a city medic, who saw him slumped over on his steering wheel. At the time, the medic happened to be on his way to a call of a civilian who was also fatally shot in the head about approximately three blocks away.
Medics rushed the victim to Jamaica Hospital, where he died.
“Early this morning, an off-duty correction officer was tragically killed in Queens,” a Correction Department spokesman said in a statement. “The officer, his family, and his colleagues are in the Board’s thoughts.”
Narain was assigned to the Anna M. Kross Center on Rikers Island and had been a correction officer since Jan. 14, 2016. He was 27 years old; the middle son of three boys. His oldest brother, Jason, is a New York City firefighter. And his younger brother, Jeremy, is a student.
“The Correction Officers Benevolent Association, along with the entire City of New York, is in mourning today, following the shocking murder of Correction Officer Johnathan Narain, who was shot and killed last night by an unidentified motorist.” said Elias Husamudeen of the association.
The union offered $10,000 to anyone with information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the killer.
©2018 New York Daily News