An off-duty correction officer who works at New York’s Rikers Island correctional facility is facing murder charges after he allegedly shot and killed his uncle on New Year’s Day during a family fight.
Cardell Gadsden, 30, is being charged with murder and criminal use of a weapon for reportedly killing his uncle, Steven Gadsden, 37, after the two began arguing inside of a minivan where they were both passengers. The driver of the van pulled over on a street on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and Steven Gadsden got out and continued to argue before his nephew allegedly fired shots at him, striking him in the torso and arm, according to The New York Daily News.
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Cardell then reportedly sped off in the van while the driver stayed back to care for Steven Gadsden, who later died at a nearby hospital.
Police told the Daily News that Cardell contacted police and admitted that he fired his weapon. He also told them he would surrender and he did. Cardell showed up with his lawyer and made no further statements to police after he turned himself in.
Now police are investigating what prompted the argument between the two men.
Officials told the newspaper that Cardell has been suspended from his job without pay. Meanwhile, family members try to make sense of the tragedy.
Steven Gadsden’s girlfriend was seen visibly distraught and crying uncontrollably Thursday morning after she arrived inside the building where the Gadsden family lives.
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“They killed him!” she cried out as another woman hugged and consoled her, according to The Daily News. “They killed my baby!”
A family neighbor said both men were cool and didn’t appear to have any beef between them.
“Two good young men, both good fellas,” the neighbor told the Daily News. “I’m so shocked and I don’t know what to say … It’s messed up. I was just taking to (Steven) yesterday. He was getting ready to go to work.”
The suspect’s grandmother said she couldn’t speak on anything “at this point.”
“I haven’t seen my grandson since the incident,” she told the Daily News. “We’re doing the best we can right now.”