Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz today announced today that Malcom White, 44, has been convicted by a jury of attempted murder for shooting his 34-year-old wife during a dispute at a hotel in Jamaica, Queens in March 2020.

District Attorney Katz said, “I am committed to holding accountable those who perpetuate acts of brutal violence against their intimate partners, and this case is especially heinous. Following a jury trial, the defendant was convicted of attempting to murder his wife, who was found bleeding from a gunshot wound and serious facial injuries. The conviction cannot undo the trauma but will hopefully provide a sense of peace to the victim knowing her abuser will be sentenced for his criminal actions.”

White, of Kirkman Avenue in Elmont, was convicted Friday after a two-week jury trial before Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Yavinsky. The defendant was found guilty of attempted murder in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. Justice Yavinsky set sentencing for September 28, 2022. The defendant faces up to 25 years-to-life in prison.

District Attorney Katz said, according to trial testimony, on March 27, 2020, emergency medical technicians and police responded to a 911 call from the Hillside Hotel on Queens Boulevard in Jamaica, Queens. Upon their arrival, emergency responders searched to find the exact source of the earlier distress call. A callback led to the defendant who was sharing a hotel room with his wife Charisse Ayres. When EMTs contacted the defendant’s room, White told them, in sum and substance, “If you come in here, I’ll blow her head off.”

Continuing, police also responded to the hotel in search of the couple and their room. The victim was found in the hotel lobby, naked, with a gunshot wound to her arm and several bone fractures to her face. Police attempted to gain entry to the defendant’s hotel room by kicking in the deadbolted door. Inside, police found blood in various places around the room. Police later recovered a fired bullet from a drained bathtub and found two cell phones – one concealed under the mattress and another in the toilet. A tower of old tires beneath a broken window in the hotel room, led police to conduct an area search outside. The defendant was discovered naked behind the hotel. Police also recovered an unloaded revolver near the back of the hotel.

Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Camillo, of the Domestic Violence Bureau, prosecuted the case, with the assistance of Assistant District Attorney Lourdes Vetrano, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Kenneth Appelbaum, Bureau Chief, Mary Kate Quinn and Audra Beerman, Deputy Bureau Chiefs, under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney of the Major Crimes Division Daniel A. Saunders.