Editor’s Note: The following is an extended version of the story that appears in our print edition dated Nov 9, 2023. 

Family and friends of Kyle Lockett, 21, killed in front of a deli on the corner of Gun Hill Road and Hull Avenue in Norwood on Nov. 3, 2022, are calling for answers from authorities on the first anniversary of his death. As reported, the 21-year-old died after a police-involved shooting which followed a separate, armed altercation inside the deli with Ajamu Demmerle, 29, during which Lockett was stabbed and Demmerle was also injured.

 

As reported, police said members of the NYPD Queens Warrant Squad were in an unmarked police vehicle in front of 330 Gun Hill Road on the day of the fatal shooting, investigating an unrelated incident. They said at 11.30 a.m., after double-parking his White Lexus on the corner, Demmerle entered the deli and engaged in a violent struggle with Lockett, who was already inside.

 

Police said during the struggle, caught on video, Lockett allegedly had a gun while Demmerle allegedly stabbed Lockett with a knife. They said Demmerle then fled the deli, was pursued by Lockett, and as Lockett exited the deli, he allegedly fired at Demmerle at point-blank range while Demmerle was inside his white Lexus, parked outside the store.

Police said the Queens Violence Detectives Squad, in plain clothes, then confronted Lockett and fired numerous times and Lockett was hit. They said he was subsequently removed to Jacobi Medical Center in Morris Park and was pronounced deceased. [Jacobi Hospital is a trauma hospital specialized in gunshot wounds.]

 

As reported, Demmerle, who had escaped from his car, later walked / ran several blocks to a barber store on East Gun Hill Road by Jerome Avenue. He was later arrested by police in connection with the incident.

 

Myisha Lockett, Kyle’s mother, told Norwood News on her son’s first anniversary, “It’s been a year since Kyle, my son, has passed away. It was tragic. He was stabbed four times in the corner deli where he grew up by an unknown assailant, who he did not know.” [Norwood News is currently unable to corroborate these details as the investigation is ongoing.]

She added, “At first, the police [were] saying it was gang activity. It was not, and when we went to court, they, you know [inaudible] that there was no affiliation. We’re still in trial, so I can’t really go into detail with that, but the issue is that we haven’t gotten any names from the Attorney General’s Office.”

 

She continued, “We don’t know the police who shot Kyle from the warrant squad. We know that there were three police on the scene, and we still have a lot of questions,” she said, in part, adding that several rounds of shots were heard in the video of the incident.

 

In different short videos of the shooting shared by the family with Norwood News, Demmerle is seen entering the store and attacking Lockett, seemingly unprovoked. They tussle and fall into a corner and out of view.

In another video taken from another angle outside the store, with the camera facing towards Hull Avenue from the direction of East Gun Hill Road, Lockett is seen running diagonally across Hull from the direction of East Gun Hill Road, from east to west towards the store, as shots ring out.

 

He then attempts to run up Hull Avenue while shots are still heard being fired continuously. He is then seen falling to the ground, and appears to drop what appears to be a gun, though it is not exactly clear in the video.

 

Police then enter the bottom of the frame, arriving on Hull Avenue on the same side of the street as where Lockett is now lying i.e. closest to the store, from the direction of East Gun Hill Road, their guns raised. As they do so, they are heard shouting at Lockett, “Don’t Move! Don’t F%cking Move!”

As he lays on the ground injured, police are seen kicking something black which had been laying next to Lockett away from his immediate surroundings and into a tree bed. In the video we have seen, the two police officers do not appear to immediately pick up the gun, if indeed it is a gun, though they may have done so later.

 

In another video shot from Hull Avenue facing towards East Gun Hill Road, the two police officers are seen approaching Lockett, their guns raised, kicking the object away from him, and subsequently crouching over Lockett, and turning him around as an ambulance arrives with a gurney shortly afterwards, along with several bystanders. This all appears to unfold in a matter of about 60 seconds. Norwood News is unable to confirm if the videos we have seen are edited or unedited.

 

Myisha Lockett continued, “We just want justice. We want to know why, you know, his back was turned. They said in the preliminary [report] that they felt that he was a threat, but how could he be a threat when his back [was] turned to them, and as soon as they shot, he threw the gun.”

Kyle Lockett’s father was also at the memorial service. Of his son’s death, he said, “You don’t know what it’s like until it happens to you.” He declined to comment further saying he was feeling very emotional.

 

We also spoke to Kyle’s cousin. Asked what Kyle was like, his cousin said, “He was a good kid. He was young. He’s been my cousin since I was young. I moved. I came back over here, and they ended up killing him. So, I’m just lost for words to be honest.”

 

Norwood News reached out to The Office of the Attorney General Letitia James and asked for a comment on the pace of the investigation, given the family’s frustrations. We also asked if the AG’s office had any comment on the victim’s family’s perception that the AG’s office has not, in their view, been as responsive to their requests for information about the incident as the family would have liked.

For example, the family said they have not been provided with the names of the officers involved in the incident nor any information about their job performance history in respect of any potential prior civilian complaints or potential reprimands regarding their conduct. A representative replied saying simply that the case was ongoing.

 

We also reached out to the Bronx District Attorney’s office regarding the separate case involving the altercation with Demmerle. We were informed he was due back in court on Thursday, Nov. 9. We have followed up with the District Attorney’s office for more information. We did not receive an immediate response.

 

Of Kyle’s character, Sarah Lang, a friend of the family, told Norwood News, “I grew up with Kyle Lockett from when he was an ‘itty bitty’ baby, and he was a really good kid. He helped me. He gave his last dollar to people on the street. He was real, you know? He loves music. He loves his family. He was a doting uncle, brother, son, friend.”

Of his death, she added, “White cops should not be policing Black and brown communities. Whether they know it or not, or they believe it or not, they do come with biases.”

 

As above, Lockett was shot not by members of the local 52^nd Precinct but by members of an NYPD Queens Warrant Squad. However, in reference to Lang’s comments, as previously reported, we asked the NYPD if a racial breakdown was available for the local precinct and we were advised that a breakdown was only available for the NYPD department as a whole. Read more about the racial breakdown of both civilian and uniformed service members in our previous story here.

 

Attached here is an example of the make up of some of the current 52nd Precinct officers. Overall, based on photos taken at various local events, they appear to show the precinct’s racial breakdown as being largely representative of the local community.

 

Demmerle is presumed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.