Press Release
LONG ISLAND MOTHER AND SON SENTENCED IN FAR ROCKAWAY SHOOTING DEATH
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Raymond Jackson and his mother, Avita Campbell, were sentenced today on manslaughter and gun possession charges in the September 2020 shooting death of a 27-year-old man in Far Rockaway. Jackson was sentenced to 24 years in prison. His mother received a 22-year sentence.
District Attorney Katz said: “A dispute over a small sum of money ended with a young man being senselessly executed. His killers are going to prison for a long time for their cold-blooded viciousness.”
Campbell, 40, and Jackson, 25, both of Hook Creek Boulevard in Valley Stream, pleaded guilty last month to manslaughter in the first degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. Campbell also pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of personal identification in the second degree. Justice Ushir Pandit-Durant sentenced Jackson and Campbell to 24 years and 22 years in prison, respectively. They were also each sentenced to five years of post-release supervision.
According to the charges:
– On September 23, 2020, the victim, Lasaaun Lawrence, went to the defendants’ Valley Stream home looking to recoup money he believed Jackson owed him for a car repair. Jackson and the victim had a physical altercation.
– Later that day, at approximately 5:40 p.m., Campbell and Jackson were seen on video surveillance getting out of a white BMW on Beach 31st Street near Seagirt Avenue in Far Rockaway. Both were armed – Campbell holding a metal pipe and Jackson carrying a handgun. The victim was in a double-parked car at the location.
– As the mother and son approached the victim’s car, Jackson raised his arm, aimed and fired at Lawrence. About a dozen shots rang out with multiple bullets hitting Lawrence.
– After Jackson stopped shooting, his mother slammed the windshield of Lawrence’s car with the pipe she was carrying, causing glass to shatter.
– Jackson and Campbell got back into the BMW and fled.
– The victim, who lived in the area, died from the gunshot wounds.
On October 2, 2020, Campbell, Jackson and one other person were stopped by police while riding in the same white BMW, which was being driven by Campbell. Police executed a court-authorized search warrant and found a loaded silver and black handgun and two magazines inside a book bag. At the time of arrest, Campbell was in possession of a notebook and spreadsheet with hundreds of names, addresses and social security numbers which she intended to use for the purpose of fraud.
Ballistics tests performed on the recovered gun by the New York City Police Department’s Firearms Section revealed it was a match for the gun used to kill Lawrence.
Jackson, who was identified as the shooter in subsequently recovered video surveillance, was apprehended in Florida in December 2020 and extradited to New York.
Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Selkowe, of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau prosecuted the case, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Peter J. McCormack, III, and John W. Kosinski, Senior Deputy Bureau Chiefs, and Karen Ross, Deputy Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Shawn Clark.
#