A dispute over an unpaid debt ended in deadly violence in Queens Village on the night of December 26–27, 2021. Peter Johnson, 31, of South Jamaica, went to a deli where his friend Hassan Dees worked to confront him about money owed. After a brief argument Johnson left and went to Dees’s home on 212th Street. Shortly before 11:00 p.m. on December 26, Dees followed Johnson and shot him; Johnson was found unresponsive in a driveway more than two hours later and was pronounced dead at Jamaica Hospital from a gunshot wound to the head.

Witnesses reported hearing a verbal dispute and gunfire. The investigation initially produced no immediate arrest, and police sought information about the shooter. In January 2022 the Regional Fugitive Task Force apprehended Hassan Dees, then 32, and charged him with murder and criminal possession of a weapon.

Are there readers who remember the deli, the block around 212th Street, or who saw anything the night Johnson was killed?