Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Lawayne Smalls, of Far Rockaway, Queens, was sentenced today to 23 years in prison. The defendant pleaded guilty last month to manslaughter in the first degree for a shooting on September 8, 2020, that killed one man and injured two others.

District Attorney Katz said, “The defendant chose to settle a verbal dispute in the worst possible way, senselessly shooting a man to death and injuring two other people, who will always have the memory of this trauma. The defendant admitted his guilt and has now been ordered to prison by the Court.”

Smalls, 19, of Beach 26^th Street in Far Rockaway, Queens, pleaded guilty on November 11, 2021 to manslaughter in the first degree before Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder. Today, Justice Holder sentenced Smalls to 23 years in prison, to be followed by five years’ post release supervision.

According to the charges, just before 2 p.m., on September 8, 2020, the defendant was on Rockaway Beach Boulevard near Shore Front Parkway when he became embroiled in a verbal dispute with the victim, who happened to be with two other people at the time. Without warning, Smalls pulled out a firearm and began shooting at all three individuals.

DA Katz said at least six bullets struck and killed Christopher Campbell, 20. Two other people were also hit by bullets but survived.

Assistant District Attorney Tara DiGregorio, Assistant Deputy Bureau Chief of the Human Trafficking Bureau and formerly with the DA’s Homicide Bureau, prosecuted the case, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Peter McCormack III and John Kosinski, Senior Deputy Bureau Chiefs of the Homicide Bureau, and Karen Ross, Deputy Bureau Chief of Homicide, and under the overall supervision of  Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel A. Saunders.