An 18-year-old was killed in East New York on the night of May 17, 2025. Zanir Childs, a resident of the Boulevard Houses, was struck in the torso by gunfire just before 10 p.m. in front of a residence on New Jersey Avenue, across from a public school playground. He was taken to NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County and pronounced dead. An 18-year-old woman was also shot in the right arm and taken to Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center in stable condition.

Childs’ family remembered him as a devoted son who loved football and hoped to play in college, and as a caring grandson who helped care for his paralyzed grandmother for about five years. Community members and advocates called for justice and an end to gun violence.

The NYPD’s investigation led to the arrest in early June of a 17-year-old male, not named because of his age, charged with murder, assault, and criminal possession of a firearm. The motive has not been made public and the investigation is ongoing. Does anyone have information that could help investigators or knew Zanir and his routines?