JAMAICA, Queens (WABC) — New York City police are searching for the suspect who shot and killed a man outside a church in Jamaica, Queens, on Friday.
It happened near a park outside a church at Merrick Boulevard and Sayres Avenue around 2:20 p.m.
The 49-year-old victim was shot multiple times in the torso by a man who fled the scene on a CitiBike.
Witnesses say there was a funeral service just wrapping up, and about 25 people coming out of the church at the time of the shooting.
Eyewitness News spoke to a limo driver who was sitting in his vehicle two cars behind the hearse. He said he was waiting for family of the deceased to exit the church, and that’s when gun shots went off.
“I was taking my coat off to throw inside the limo, and as soon as I took my coat off I heard, ‘pow. pow, pow, pow, pow, pow!’ I was like, ‘what the heck?’ And I looked. I looked at the hearse, and I saw a guy laying on the ground bouncing from side to side, and I was like ‘oh my god,’ and I ran behind the limo to go inside the church,” the driver said.
The driver said he doesn’t know if the victim was part of the service.
The victim was taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
Police say the suspect was last seen wearing a DKNY jacket, a colorful sweatshirt, orange sneakers and fled northbound on 170th Street.
It’s not clear if the victim was the intended target.
No arrests have been made, and the investigation is ongoing.
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