QUEENS, NY – Desean McCain, 22, has been arraigned and charged with murder in the November 2 shooting death of a 47-year-old man, who was the boyfriend of his disabled mother, in an apartment of the Pomonok Houses.
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said, “A domestic dispute erupted into chaos and tragedy when the defendant allegedly fired an illegal gun multiple times at the victim. No one has the right to take another person’s life. The defendant will now be held accountable in court.”
McCain, of Parsons Boulevard in Fresh Meadows, Queens, was arraigned late last night before Queens Criminal Court Judge Eugene Guarino on a four-count complaint charging him with murder in the second degree, two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and endangering the welfare of a child. Judge Guarino ordered the defendant to return to Court on November 12, 2021. If convicted, McCain faces up to 25 years-to-life in prison.
According to the complaint, shortly after 7 p.m. on Tuesday, November 2nd, the defendant was in his mother’s apartment near the intersection of Parsons Boulevard and Jewel Avenue when he allegedly shot Anthony Ragler. The 47-year-old victim was romantically involved with the defendant’s mother. Both McCain’s mother and her nine-year-old grandson were present at the time of the shooting.
District Attorney Katz said when police arrived at the scene, McCain had fled. Medical personnel transported the victim to a local hospital but the gunshot wounds to his head and chest were fatal.
According to the New York Daily News, the murder victim was abusive.
“He deserved it. He was always beating on that woman. He was drinking every day and putting his hands on her and her son,” a family friend told the Daily News. “There were two shots and then the police came knocking.”
