Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Avita Campbell, 38, and her son Raymond Jackson, 22, have both been indicted by a Queens County grand jury on murder and other charges for the shooting death of a Far Rockaway man last month. Defendant Campbell has been arraigned in Supreme Court. Defendant Jackson has not yet been apprehended.

 

District Attorney Katz said, “It is hard to imagine a mother teaming up with her son to commit murder, but that is sadly what happened here. The defendants charged in this case sought out the victim with the intent to do him harm. The mother was allegedly armed with a metal pipe and her son is accused of pulling out a gun and firing more than a dozen rounds at point blank range towards the unarmed victim. This was vicious, senseless revenge over a petty dispute. The mother is in custody and the search for her son is on-going.”

 

Campbell, of Hook Creek Boulevard in Valley Stream, Long Island, was arraigned this morning before Queens Supreme Court Justice Richard L. Buchter on an indictment charging her with murder in the second degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the second and third degree, criminal mischief in the fourth degree, unlawful possession of personal identification information in the second degree, aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle in the third degree and operating or driving a motor vehicle without a license. Justice Buchter held the defendant without bail and ordered her to return to court on January 19, 2021.

 

Defendant Jackson, when he is apprehended will have to answer to the following indicted charges of  murder in the second degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and unlawful possession of personal identification information in the second degree.

 

If convicted, Campbell and Jackson both face up to 25 years-to-life in prison.

 

According to the charges, around 5:40 p.m. on September 23, 2020, Campbell and Jackson were observed on video surveillance stopping their white BMW, which was being driven by Campbell on Beach 31^st Street in Far Rockaway. The pair exited the BMW and approached Lasaaun Lawrence, 27, who was inside of a double parked car at that location. Both defendants were allegedly armed – Campbell with what appears to be a metal pipe and Jackson grasping a handgun. As the pair approached Mr. Lawrence, defendant Jackson raised his arm and allegedly fired in the victim’s direction over a dozen times.

 

Continuing, said the DA, the victim was struck by multiple bullets. After her son stopped shooting, Campbell, took the pipe she carried and allegedly slammed it into the windshield of the car that Mr. Lawrence was in causing the windshield to shatter. Then both defendants jumped back into the white BMW and fled the scene.

 

The victim, who lived in Far Rockaway, died as a result of multiple gunshot wounds.

 

On October 2, 2020, according to the charges, Campbell was pulled over during a traffic stop. Police executed a Court-authorized warrant and searched the vehicle – the same white BMW used in the fatal shooting in September. Police allegedly found a loaded silver and black firearm with two magazines inside a book bag. Defendant Campbell at that time was arrested on weapons charges.

 

According to the indictment, the Firearms Section of the New York City Police Department performed ballistics tests on the recovered gun and it was allegedly a match for the gun used to shoot and kill Mr. Lawrence.

 

According to the charges, in addition to recovering the firearm and ammunition allegedly in Campbell’s car police also found $9,640 in cash, multiple credit cards in other people’s names and a detailed ledger containing the names of more than 700 different people along with their personal information, including birth dates, social security numbers, home addresses and more. Some of the credit cards recovered matched the names of people listed in the ledger.

 

The investigation was conducted by Detective Andre Figueiredo of the NYPD’s 101^st Detective Squad under the supervision of Detective Sergeant Courtney Cummings.

 

Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Selkowe, of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau is prosecuting the case, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Brad L. Leventhal, Bureau Chief, Peter J. McCormack, III, Senior Deputy Bureau Chief, John W. Kosinski and Kenneth Appelbaum, Deputy Bureau Chiefs and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel A. Saunders.