Newly released surveillance video shows the moment an off-duty New York City correction officer was viciously shot dead in Queens more than four years ago during a parking spat — and prosecutors are hoping it leads to the killer.
The grainy, black and white footage shows victim John Jeff, 28, being killed in a hail of bullets and the alleged assailants fleeing the scene in the early hours of Aug. 15, 2020, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said Wednesday.
The senseless violence exploded when Jeff got into a parking dispute at the corner of Defoe and Ridgedale Streets in Springfield Gardens around 3 a.m., according to officials.
Jeff, who was a passenger in a black Chevy Malibu, was boxed in by a garbage truck and two other vehicles — a black Mercedes and a blue BMW — behind him.
Jeff asked the cars’ drivers to back up and an argument erupted with the occupants of the black Mercedes, leading Jeff to draw his firearm while identifying himself as an officer, Katz said.
The black Mercedes then backed up, allowing Jeff to get back into the car and his driver, a coworker, to take a left on Defoe Street, according to officials.
But Jeff got into another argument seconds later, when another car — a white Infiniti — traveling the opposite direction down Defoe Street blocked the vehicle Jeff was in.
Someone tapped the window and Jeff stepped out of the car before feuding with the person.
Nearby party-goers watched the chaos unfold before multiple gunshots broke out, striking Jeff in the head and body.
“Everybody started running, screaming. I lost a shoe and a fingernail,” a reveler told The Post at the time, while holding up a finger with a red fake nail missing.
“I was almost trampled over.”
Another party goer said: “I heard someone shouting, ‘Yo, someone got shot, someone got shot.’ I ran to the corner. I saw a man laying there. [Then] I heard screeching like tires.”
Katz said the three cars — the black Mercedes, the blue BMW and the white Infinity — fled after the shooting.
Investigators discovered 13 shell casing at the blood-soaked crime scene and believe Jeff may have been shot with his own gun after he was blasted by bullets from the perp, according to officials.
His firearm was never recovered.
Jeff was assigned to the Anna M. Kross Center on Rikers Island and spent more than two years on the job, according to the correction’s union.
Katz’s office distributed the footage Wednesday, which captures several people screaming after several gunshots ring out.
The Queens DA is pleading with the public to come forward with any information.
“Although cases grow cold, they are never forgotten,” Katz said in a statement.
“We hope that by publicly releasing this surveillance footage we will bring more attention to this senseless unsolved murder.”
Katz is urging anyone with information to contact NYPD Crimestoppers via 800-577-TIPS or via the online link. All tips are confidential and a $30,000 reward is being offered.
