Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Jerald Bethea has been indicted by a grand jury and arraigned in Queens Supreme Court on murder and gun charges for shooting and killing a worker who was doing his job in the Astoria Houses in April 2020. The innocent bystander was hit by a bullet that was intended for someone else.

District Attorney Katz said, “An innocent man needlessly lost his life when this defendant allegedly fired an illegal gun. This was a heinous crime with the defendant actually intending to shoot someone else. Now a man who was simply doing his job is being mourned by his loved ones. I want to prevent this kind of tragedy from happening by getting illegal guns off our streets.”

Bethea, 19, of 27th Avenue in Astoria, was arraigned today before Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Aloise on an indictment charging him with murder in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. Justice Aloise remanded the defendant and set his return date for January 19, 2020. If convicted, the defendant faces up to 25 years-to-life in prison.

District Attorney Katz said that, around 3 p.m. on April 9, 2020, Navy veteran and HVAC specialist, Darrian Ramdial, 25, was working on the grounds of the Astoria Houses. The defendant allegedly tried to shoot a man also on the grounds of the housing complex, but the bullet instead hit Ramdial in his torso. The victim was taken to an area hospital but succumbed to the injury six days later.

Continuing, according to the charges, Bethea fled the scene but was apprehended in October by members of the New York City Police Department’s Felony Warrant Squad.

The investigation was conducted by Detective Andrew Alloro of the NYPD’s Queens North Homicide Squad under the supervision of Lieutenant Timothy Thompson and Police Officer Scott Sohn of the 114th Pct. Squad under the supervision of Lieutenant Brian Hillman.

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