Press Release

QUEENS MAN INDICTED ON MURDER CHARGES FOR SHOOTING TO DEATH HIS MOTHER’S COMPANION

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Desean McCain, 22, has been indicted by a Queens County grand jury and arraigned in Supreme Court on murder charges for the shooting death of his mother’s 47-year-old boyfriend.  The incident took place inside the defendant’s mother’s apartment in the Pomonok Houses on November 2, 2021.

District Attorney Katz said, “As alleged, this domestic dispute turned deadly when the defendant, in possession of an illegal firearm, fired the weapon multiple times at the victim. The defendant will now be held accountable in court.”

McCain, of Parsons Boulevard in Fresh Meadows, Queens, was arraigned yesterday before Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder on a four-count indictment charging him with murder in the second degree, two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and endangering the welfare of a child. Justice Holder ordered the defendant to return to Court on December 16, 2021. If convicted, McCain faces up to 25 years-to-life in prison.

According to the indictment, shortly after 7 p.m. on November 2, 2021, the defendant was inside his mother’s apartment near the intersection of Parsons Boulevard and Jewel Avenue, along with her boyfriend, Anthony Ragler.  After a brief dispute between the two men, the defendant allegedly shot the 47-year-old victim, striking him in the head and the torso. Both McCain’s mother and her nine-year-old grandson were present at the time of the shooting.

District Attorney Katz said medical personnel transported the victim to a local hospital, where Mr. Ragler was pronounced deceased. The defendant fled the area following the shooting but was apprehended a week later.

The investigation was conducted by Detective Edgar Brito of the 107th Detective Squad.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Tara DiGregorio, of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau, is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Peter McCormack III, and John Kosinski, Senior Deputy Bureau Chiefs, and Karen Ross, Deputy Bureau Chief, and 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.