HOUSE SEARCHED IN KILLING PROBE
Investigators ‘moving very quickly’ to solve case in homicide of 12-year-old girl
KINGSTON, N.Y. » State police executed a search warrant at 49 Franklin St. on Wednesday afternoon in connection with their investigation of the fatal shooting of 12-year- old D’Janeira Mason on Dec. 17, a Kingston police lieutenant said.
Investigators could be seen removing brown paper bags from the house.
Reached by phone Wednesday evening and asked whether an arrest had been made, Ulster County District Attorney David Clegg said, “You know, there are things in progress. … We’re moving very quickly on this and will be able to say more soon. … We’re moving towards resolving and solving this case quickly.”
Trooper Ben Strickland at Troop F barracks on U.S. Route 209 in the town of Ulster said only that the investigation is active. He declined to say whether an arrest had been made on Wednesday.
On Wednesday afternoon, Trooper Steven Nevel also declined to provide any additional information.
The 12-year- old girl died at the scene of a gunshot wound to the head on Thursday. Her 10-year-old brother was reported to be in stable condition at
the MidHudson Regional Hospital in Poughkeepsie on Friday with a gunshot wound to his arm. Police have said he is expected to recover.
State police took over the investigation from the Kingston police shortly after Mason’s fatal shooting and have consistently declined to comment on the status of the investigation.
On Monday, however, Clegg said investigators were close to wrapping up their inquiries.
Clegg said both children were in their home in a rear apartment at 60 Van Buren St., in Midtown, at about 8 p.m. Thursday when a gunman fired into the house, striking the two children, in what Clegg has called “a depraved” and targeted attack.
An obituary for the slain girl says she was the daughter of Aleshia Keener, of Kingston, and the late Kevin Kunta Mason of Ellenville.
A seventh-grade student at the J. Watson Bailey Middle School, D’Janeira was remembered in the obituary as a “loving and bubbly girl” who was adored by many people.
D’Janeira’s brother is in the fourth grade at George Washington Elementary School, according to the Kingston school district, which has offered counseling to families.
“There was never a day that went by that she wasn’t helping anywhere she could,” the obituary reads. “She was known to always cheer up her siblings if they were having a bad day, and if she had something she was always offering to share it.”
D’Janeira had recently begun babysitting for a close family friend and dreamed of becoming a teacher. “Djae loved hanging out with her siblings and friends. She especially enjoyed her strawberry banana smoothies and eating Takis, but most of all making her tiktok videos,” the obituary states.
According to the obituary, in addition to her mother, D’Janeria is survived by her stepfather, Christopher Mangrum, and her siblings, Danaela Mason, Dalani Mason, Dasane Mason, Myla Mangrum, My’Leigh Mangrum, Ma’Jesti Mangrum, Markeya Trueluck, Asianae Infante, Nyasia Orr, Chade Mason, Yan Mason, Zaid Mason, Jason Wallace and Chai-Ann Wallace, and by her grandfather, Timothy Keener.
On Wednesday, Scott Woebse of Mobile Life said three ambulances had responded to the scene of the homicide, with the first arriving within six minutes after receiving a 911 call. Woebse said the road conditions were “pretty rough” throughout the region on Thursday in the wake of a snowstorm that had just ended that morning but he said, “The weather had no impact on the outcome of that case. That I can say with certainty.”
Ed Norman of Kingston’s Department of Public Works did not immediately return a phone call on Wednesday.
The homicide was the fifth in the city since October 2019. Only one of those has resulted in an indictment.
State police have asked anyone who may have seen someone on foot in the area or a vehicle driving in the area of Van Buren or Van Deusen streets in an erratic manner around 8 p.m. Thursday, or anything else that could possibly be connected to the shooting, to call (845) 3381702. All calls will be kept confidential.