Qns. hit-run leads to nab in slay of boy in Harlem
A Queens car-crash arrest helped cops find the man suspected of the fatal shooting an East Harlem teenager on Memorial Day, police said Tuesday.
Shane Lloyd, a 33-year-old parolee from Queens, was busted on charges he killed Amir James, a basketball-loving 15-year-old, with a single gunshot at E. 123rd St. and Lexington Ave. on May 31.
Lloyd, who also goes by the first name Antonio, was serving five years on supervised release after he finished a three-year sentence for gun possession in 2019, public records show.
He got involved in a hit-and-run crash in Queens last year, and was arrested in connection with that wreck in July, records show.
On July 23, Lloyd was sent to Rikers Island, charged with reckless driving, leaving the scene of a crash with injuries, as well as drug and weapon possession.
But investigators were also able to link him to Amir’s killing, and charged him with the teen’s slaying on Tuesday, cops said.
Police believe a drug dispute motivated the shooting, but it’s not clear if the Thurgood Marshall High School sophomore was the intended target, cops said.
A 30-year-old man was also shot in the knee in the incident.
Amir’s parents told the Daily News after his killing they believe their brave son happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time — and may have been trying to shield his sister, who was buying a sandwich in a nearby deli.
“We think he gave his life for [older sister] Kayla,” Amir’s dad, Troy James, 46, told the News. “Because as I look at his picture, his picture tells me that. I actually think he ran in front of the bullet, that’s how he was shot from the back through the heart. That was to save his sister.”
Police released footage of the gunman in June and offered a $10,000 reward in the case.
Lloyd was awaiting arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court.