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Off-duty NYC correction officer dies after he was shot 11 times, suspect still at large

Witnesses who attended a party in the vicinity of the crime scene confirm they heard gunshots and later saw a man lying on the ground and bleeding profusely from the head

QUEENS, NEW YORK: An off-duty police officer has died after enduring a volley of nearly a dozen bullets while he was looking for a parking spot in Queens in the early hours of Saturday, August 15, officials and police sources confirmed. John Jeff, a 28-year-old cop who worked at the Anna M Kross Center on Rikers Island was leaving a late-night party when the shooting took place. He was accompanied by a 26-year-old woman, a fellow Department of Correction officer.

They had been looking for parking on Ridgedale Street near Defoe Street in South Jamaica around 3 am when someone from another car began arguing with him, reveal sources with knowledge of the case, according to New York Daily News. 

Jeff's companion ran to get help as people from both vehicles stepped out to confront each other. A few moments later shots were fired and the victim's companion ran back on hearing them and found him lying face up on the ground. The man who killed him may have swiped the correction officer's gun, said sources close to the case. 

The horrific attack took place less than a mile from Jeff's home in Rochdale. He was shot 11 times, authorities revealed. Jeff was struck multiple times in the head, chest, stomach, arm and thigh, officials said. The person who killed Jeff is still at large. Surveillance cameras caught a silver sedan racing away from the scene. 

Witnesses who attended a party in the vicinity of the crime scene confirm they heard gunshots and later saw a man lying on the ground and bleeding profusely from the head. "Everybody started running, screaming. I lost a shoe and a fingernail," a woman said holding up a finger with a red fake nail missing. "I was almost trampled over," she said, according to theNew York Post.

Another woman said, "I heard someone shouting, 'Yo, someone got shot, someone got shot'. I ran to the corner. I saw a man laying there. I heard screeching like tires." She then went ahead to try and revive Jeff by performing CPR on him but she detected no pulse. 

"I was busy trying to save him. I saw blood but I only realized he was shot in the head when the police came," she said. Jeff was rushed to Jamaica Hospital, where he died. After his murder, Correction Officers Benevolent Association President Benny Boscio Jr released a statement. Jeff had "his whole life and career ahead of him. He was well-liked and highly regarded by his fellow officers… Our hearts and prayers are with Correction Officer Jeff's family and his fellow officers at AMKC during this painful time," he said in a statement.

Boscio also said that COBA will be offering a $10,000 reward for any information that would lead to the arrest and conviction of Jeff's murderer. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio in a tweet urged people with any information regarding this "tragedy" to contact the NYPD. "This is a tragedy. Chirlane and I are keeping this young man's family, loved ones and brothers and sisters in @CorrectionNYC in our hearts today. An investigation into this cowardly attack is ongoing. If you have any information please contact the NYPD," his tweet read.