In the early morning hours of August 9, 2020, a crowded house party in Springfield Gardens, Queens, turned deadly for 25-year-old Jonathan Distant. The Bronx man was shot in the left side of the abdomen after a minor altercation around 4:30 a.m. The gathering was in a front yard on 183rd Street and reportedly had about 150 people present; guests panicked and fled when the shot rang out and at least two other firearms were discharged during the chaos, though no additional injuries were reported.

Distant was taken to Jamaica Hospital by private vehicle and was pronounced dead. Police arrested 27-year-old Devante Richards of Brooklyn on October 28, 2020; he was charged with murder in the second degree and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. The Queens District Attorney called the killing an absolutely senseless loss of a young life.

If anyone attended that party or has information about the events on 183rd Street that morning, please come forward.