Press Release
LONG ISLAND MAN INDICTED FOR COLD CASE MURDER IN SHOOTING DEATH OF 34-YEAR-OLD FATHER
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Michael Brown, 37, has been indicted by a Queens grand jury, charging him with murder and other crimes in the fatal shooting of a 34-year-old man. The defendant allegedly shot the victim from a passing vehicle in St. Albans in September 2018.
District Attorney Katz said, “Securing this indictment demonstrates exactly why I formed the QDA Cold Case Unit. We will work tirelessly to bring closure to grieving families and assure them they are not forgotten. Justice will be pursued and sought in a court of law regardless of how much time passes. The defendant tried to elude identification and responsibility for his alleged crimes but he will now stand in court to answer for this shooting.”
Brown, of Catalpa Avenue in Franklin Square, Long Island, NY, was held on a 3-count indictment warrant before Justice Gene Lopez charging him with murder in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. The defendant was ordered to return to court to be arraigned on October 13, 2021, before Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder. If convicted, Brown faces up to 25 years-to-life in prison.
According to the charges, at approximately 9:30 p.m. on September 25, 2018, the victim Khipplyn Rhodd was standing near his work van in the vicinity of 118th Road and Farmers Boulevard in St. Albans, Queens when he was struck in the torso by a gunshot fired from a silver four-door sedan travelling southbound on Farmers Boulevard. The victim died of his injuries at a local hospital.
The investigation was conducted by Detective Timothy Rizzo of the New York City Police Department’s 113th Precinct Detective Squad under the supervision of Supervising Sergeant Sean Finnegan and Detective Anthony Faranda of the Queens South Homicide Squad under Supervising Sergeant Domingo Aviles and Lieutenant James McGarry.
Senior Assistant District Attorneys Tara DiGregorio and Kristin Papadopoulos, of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau, are prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Karen Ross, Deputy Bureau Chief, Cold Case Unit, Peter J. McCormack III, Senior Deputy Bureau Chief and John W. Kosinski, Deputy Bureau Chief, under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel A. Saunders.
**Criminal complaints and indictments are accusations. A defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.