Keon Gill, 43, was fatally shot in the Bronx in the early morning hours of January 25, 2026, the day he was celebrating his birthday. Gill, a Middletown, New York resident, had been at a party and was walking near West 242nd Street and Broadway in Riverdale at about 2:50 a.m. He was with a 25-year-old man when an assailant approached and a physical altercation broke out. The suspect produced a firearm and shot both men just outside Van Cortlandt Park. Gill suffered a gunshot wound to the chest and was pronounced dead at St. Barnabas Hospital; the younger man was shot in the knee and treated at the hospital.

Family described Gill as a dedicated, charismatic working father who enjoyed life and played basketball; friends called him Special K at the Middletown YMCA and planned to make memorial jerseys. An uncle said Gill was headed home to his wife and believed the attack may have been a robbery attempt. Police described the suspect as a man in a black Nike tracksuit and red sneakers who fled on foot; the surviving victim told police he did not know the gunman. No arrests had been announced and the investigation remained ongoing as of late January 2026.

Did anyone in Riverdale or the area near Van Cortlandt Park see a man matching that description around 2:50 a.m. on January 25?