Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz today announced that Melvin Adams, 43, has been charged with assault and other crimes for allegedly shooting into an MTA bus, striking two passengers and shattering the front windshield on Thursday morning in Jamaica, Queens.

District Attorney Katz said, “We can’t live in a world where a petty dispute on the street between strangers end ups with innocent people getting shot at on a City bus. The alleged, brazen conduct of the defendant is another example of why my office has made such a high priority of getting guns off the street.”

Adams, of Barnes Avenue, in the Bronx, was arraigned this morning in Queens Criminal Court before Judge Jeffrey Gershuny. The defendant is charged in a criminal complaint with assault in the first degree, attempted assault in the first degree, two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, three counts of assault in the second degree, reckless endangerment in the first degree and criminal possession of a firearm. Judge Gershuny ordered the defendant to return to court on August 10, 2021. If convicted, Adams faces up to 25 years in prison.

District Attorney Katz said that, according to the charges, the defendant was on 148^th Street and Jamaica Avenue, at approximately 8:55 a.m. when he and a stranger walking by had a heated exchange of words. Adams walked across the street and was observed crouching down and then reach into a backpack. The defendant allegedly pulled out a black pistol, point it towards the man on the street he’d been arguing with and fire three shots.

Continuing, according to the criminal complaint, a 66-year-old passenger on the MTA Q8 bus saw the windshield of the vehicle shatter and immediately felt pain in his shoulder. The victim looked down and realized he was bleeding from a laceration to his shoulder. This man was immediately transported to a local hospital for treatment of his injuries.

Additionally, said DA Katz, a second passenger on the bus also felt pain in his arm and hand immediately after hearing the gunshots. The 20-year-old observed blood on his hand. He, too, was taken to a nearby hospital and was treated for a shattered bone in his hand from a bullet fragment that remains in his hand.

Continuing, District Attorney Katz said, a New York City police officer at the location also allegedly observed the defendant firing a pistol, and then saw Adams begin to walk quickly down the street away from the scene. The officer apprehended the defendant with the backpack, and allegedly recovered a .40 caliber Smith & Wesson pistol with one round in the chamber and eleven rounds of ammunition in the magazine. An additional magazine with 15 rounds of ammunition was also allegedly recovered from the backpack.

Assistant District Attorney Jeremy Mo, of District Attorney’s Felony Trials Bureau IV, is prosecuting the case, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Karen Rankin, Bureau Chief, Robert Ferino and Timothy Regan, Deputy Bureau Chiefs, and under overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Trials Pishoy B. Yacoub.