Teen 1st gun-slay vic of ’24
Killed in possible gang-tied scrap at B’klyn NYCHA bldg.
A Brooklyn teen who was killed outside a city housing project in the first gun-related homicide of the year went down shooting, police said Wednesday.
Javel Lawton was shot in the upper body behind a Bay View Houses building on E. 102nd St. near Seaview Ave. in Canarsie around 9 p.m. Tuesday, according to police.
Officers responding to a 911 call and a ShotSpotter alert found the teen mortally wounded. Medics rushed him to Brookdale University Hospital, but he could not be saved.
Cops said Javel had no arrest record but did have a gun and used it to try to defend himself.
“He was visiting friends at that location,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said in a Wednesday news briefing. “When he walks out of the building to leave, he’s by himself. He’s immediately approached by a group of four to five males that are all hooded up, wearing masks and have gloves. There’s a verbal interaction.”
The incident could have been gang-related, he added.
“They seem to be disputing, and at that point one male from the crowd, who’s wearing light blue clothing, which could indicate affiliation with the Crips gang, pulls out a pistol,” Kenny continued. “Our victim himself, who was coming out of a building that is known to be an Apes Blood set building, pulls out a pistol, as well.”
Kenny said the first shooter fired five shots from a 9-mm. gun, striking Javel in the back. Those shell casings were recovered. The victim fired once but hit no one, according to the chief.
The boy’s heartbroken father, Thomas Lawton, said he doubts his son was targeted.
“Javel was a good kid, athletic,” Lawton, 41, told the Daily News. “He was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
The victim lived 2 miles away in East Flatbush and had relatives living in the Bay View Houses. Kenny said Javel lived at the NYCHA complex about two years ago.
“I don’t know what’s the story,” said Lawton. “I just came home from work and went to the hospital. We are just still grieving.”
Javel’s parents kept the boy busy with music and basketball, a strategy that helped keep the teen out of trouble, said Javel’s adult cousin, Javin Walker.
“He was just a good kid, just a family kid,” Walker said. “He was always with his mother and father. It’s probably wrong place, wrong time. We don’t really knows what’s going on. Maybe visiting friends and then things happen. We just don’t know.”
Walker said he got the news when some of Javel’s friends knocked on his door shortly after the shooting.
“His friends came to my door and told me about the situation,” he said. “This was just confusing. It’s still early. It’s still fresh, and we’re just trying to figure out what’s going on.”
Javel’s parents are always looking out for people in the neighborhood, according to Walker.
“His father and mother help people all the time,” he said. “They’re good people, and for this to happen it’s rough and sad. It’s very hurtful to see them go through this and at a time like this, a new year. It’s very hurtful.”
The shooting made Walker think twice about sending his own son to school.
“You never know what’s really going on,” he said. “This area is known for randomness.
“With these young kids or young men … if you are in the way, you’re just in the way,” the cousin continued. “And it’s so sad because this is an area where people are struggling.
“I was scared to send my son to school this morning to get on the bus because you’re just afraid,” he added.
Four shell casings were recovered at the scene, but no arrests have been made. It was not immediately clear what happened to the gun Javel fired.
The murder is the second in the city so far this year. A man was fatally stabbed in Queens early on New Year’s Day.
Just hours before the Brooklyn shooting, the NYPD shared crime statistics from 2023. The number of murders decreased last year, part of a downward trend since the pandemic.