Cedric Smalls, 18, was fatally shot outside a building at the Hammel Houses on Beach Channel Drive in Queens on Friday, December 15, 2006. According to reports, an unidentified man got out of a car and shot Smalls once in the chest; he was taken to Peninsula Hospital Center and pronounced dead on arrival. Smalls, who used the street name Scooby, was described as a suspected member of the Bloods and his killing was believed to be part of an ongoing turf war between a Hammels-based gang called GIB and Ocean Bay gangs.

Detectives from the 100th Precinct and the Queens Homicide Unit investigated, but no immediate arrests were made in Cedric Smalls’ murder. Police named Laton Spurgeon as a person of interest; Spurgeon was shot and killed four days later on December 19. In a further development, Cedric’s brother Andrew Smalls was arrested and charged in connection with Spurgeon’s death, accused of shooting him and running him over with a car and arraigned on second-degree murder, attempted murder, and criminal possession of a weapon charges.

What information do readers from the Rockaway area have about the events or the people involved?