Man wanted in Brooklyn ‘bling bishop’ robbery killed by US marshals
Law enforcement officials shot and killed a man who was suspected in a 2022 robbery of nearly $1m in jewelry from a Brooklyn bishop that was captured on a live stream.
US marshals attempted to detain 41-year-old Shamar Leggette in a New Jersey hotel on Wednesday afternoon, according to NBC New York. Leggette was killed after shooting at the marshals, two senior law enforcement officials told the outlet. He was listed as one of New York state’s most wanted fugitives.
In July 2022, Lamor Miller-Whitehead, known as the “bling bishop”, was in the middle of a livestreamed sermon in Brooklyn for his Leaders
of Tomorrow International Ministries, when three armed thieves walked in and demanded jewelry and other goods.
They reportedly made off with $1m in jewelry, including luxury watches.
Two men were charged in 2022 with the robbery. Leggette, the third suspect, had remained at large. On Wednesday, Miller-Whitehead said in an Instagram video that Leggette had put a gun in the face of his wife and eight-monthold daughter, according to the New York Post. Leggette had a history of robberies: he previously served nearly seven years in prison for robbery, attempted murder and weapons possession, according to the Post.
“So this is the guy that was at large, and he came and put the gun to my head and ripped my clergy collar off and ripped my chains off, and he was just brutal,” Miller-Whitehead said in the Instagram video.
Miller-Whitehead, who is a friend of the New York City mayor, Eric Adams, was himself arrested in December of 2022 for fraud, extortion and false statements. The indictment alleged that he took $90,000 in retirement savings from a parishioner, promised to help them buy a home and then spent the money on luxury items.