Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Jayson Scott and Richard Swygert were arraigned today on an indictment charging Scott with first- and second-degree murder and Swygert with second-degree murder in the 2021 shooting death of 47-year-old Darius Guillebeaux in South Jamaica. Scott is alleged to have been hired to kill Guillebeaux.

District Attorney Katz said: “We are charging the defendants with a cold-blooded killing on a public street. Deadly gun violence has no place in our neighborhoods and we will remain steadfast in getting illegal guns and those who use them off the streets of Queens.”

Scott, 23, of Tier Street, the Bronx, was arraigned today on a seven-count indictment charging him with murder in the first and second degrees, four counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and reckless endangerment in the first degree.

Swygert, 22, of Harrison Avenue in the Bronx, was arraigned today on the same indictment charging him with murder in the second degree, four counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and reckless endangerment in the first degree.

Scott faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of the top count and Swygert faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted. Justice Ushir Pandit-Durant remanded both defendants and ordered them to return to court on July 31.

Scott was arraigned June 5 on an indictment in a separate case charging him with two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree and unlawful possession of pistol ammunition. He was arrested in May after a search warrant of a home he and two others were in on 108^th Drive uncovered a loaded .40-caliber Glock semi-automatic pistol as well as ammunition.

Swygert was indicted on a separate case in October 2021 on charges of murder in the second degree, two counts of attempted murder in the second degree, assault in the first and second degrees, and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. He is accused of fatally shooting a 20-year-old Rosedale man and injuring two others outside a Kew Gardens hotel in the early morning hours of January 1, 2021.

He was also indicted in September 2021 on charges of murder in the second degree, assault in the first and second degrees, two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and false personation. He is alleged to have fired at a 22-year-old man in a karaoke bar on August. 13, 2021, killing him and wounding another individual.

According to the charges in the recent case and statements made in court:

• On June 7, 2021, at approximately 7:55 p.m., Guillebeaux of Astoria, was standing on the corner of 148^th Street and Rockaway Boulevard in South Jamaica.
• About an hour earlier, video surveillance shows that Scott and Swygert entered the nearby South Jamaica Houses. Video surveillance further shows they were picked up from the South Jamaica houses shortly thereafter in a 2007 Silver Elantra with distinctive rear damage and were dropped off in the vicinity of 146-20 123^rd Avenue close to where Guillebeaux was standing.
• Scott and Swygert can then be observed on video walking from that location to the intersection of 148^th Street and Rockaway Boulevard at the time of the shooting.
• Immediately prior to the shooting, a red 2017-2018 Hyundai Elantra made a right turn from Rockaway Boulevard onto 148^th Street and drove past Guillebeaux.
• Seconds later Scott and Swygert walked toward the intersection and Scott stepped near Guillebeaux and fired a gun at him. Guillebeaux collapsed and Scott stood over the victim and fired again.
• Swygert fired at least two shots at the victim.
• Video surveillance captured the defendants entering into a red 2017-2018 Elantra immediately after the shooting and it was seen driving away from the murder scene.
• At approximately 8:15 p.m., a 2017-2018 red Elantra pulled in front of a building on Lincoln Avenue in Brooklyn and Scott and Swygert were observed on video surveillance getting out of the back of the car and entering the building. Scott and Swygert were then observed on video surveillance entering the 2007 silver Elantra with distinctive rear damage.
• In addition, Scott’s cell phone tracked his movements from the South Jamaica Houses to the vicinity of the shooting location, to Lincoln Avenue in Brooklyn at the times that he and Swygert are observed at those locations on video surveillance.
• Guillebeaux was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead from his injuries.

Assistant District Attorneys Eric Weinstein and Patricia Coladonato of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau are prosecuting the homicide case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys John Kosinski, Bureau Chief, and Karen Ross, Deputy Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Shawn Clark.

Assistant District Attorney Charles Dunn of the District Attorney’s Violent Criminal Enterprise Bureau is prosecuting the weapon case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Sennett, Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Gerard Brave.