Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Keanu Suckoo, 21, has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the shooting death of a 27-year-old man. The victim was gunned down as he ran down the street in Jamaica, Queens in March 2019.

District Attorney Katz said, “The defendant in this case has now admitted to shooting and killing a neighborhood man. Senseless gun violence rips our communities apart and causes needless grief. My Office continues to work diligently to get illegal firearms off our streets and to cut off access to these weapons of death.”

Suckoo, of 145^th Road in Jamaica, Queens, pleaded guilty Monday afternoon to manslaughter in the first degree before Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder. The defendant will be sentenced on October 25, 2021. Justice Holder indicated he will order Suckoo to be incarcerated for 19 years, to be followed by five years’ post release supervision.

According to the charges, said DA Katz, soon after sunset on March 5, 2019, the victim, Pernell Cudjoe, was inside of a vehicle with his brother, in the vicinity of 145^th Avenue and 180^th Street when the defendant approached the vehicle. An altercation ensued and Suckoo pulled out a gun. Mr. Cudjoe and his brother both ran down the street away from the defendant, who fired two shots at the victim. Mr. Cudjoe was struck once in the back. He was taken to an area hospital but succumbed to the injury.

As outlined in the charges, video surveillance from the scene of the shooting showed defendant Suckoo pulling out the gun and shooting at Mr. Cudjoe and his brother.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Emily Collins, of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau, prosecuted the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Peter McCormack III, Senior Deputy Bureau Chief, John Kosinski and Karen Ross, Deputy Bureau Chiefs, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney of Major Crimes Daniel Saunders.