Jonathan Pettigrew, 41, asked a teen to lower the volume on his phone. After a brief argument, the teen killed him, shot him in his abdomen.
It appears the victim, Jonathan Pettigrew, told the gunman to stop yelling on his cellphone.
An argument ensued, and the suspect, described as a young man in his teens, shot Pettigrew in the abdomen.
Pettigrew was taken to Jacobi Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
It’s out of control https://t.co/TWYgzCAqyi
— Miranda Devine (@mirandadevine) June 9, 2026
ABC New York
The Price of Out-of-Control Crime
His family said he had just gotten an apartment last year because he finally had full custody of his 7-year-old daughter.
“I called my cousin, she told me, and I dropped my phone in the pizzeria, and I just started screaming. Everybody started coming to me, and I was screaming, I can’t even comprehend how I’m feeling right now,” said the victim’s relative, Dana Hammond.
The single father was building a life and working at a restaurant. He wanted to be with his daughter full-time and loved being a father.
He walked her to and from school every day. His family said his daughter doesn’t know that her father is gone.
“I really want justice for my brother, no matter what the cost; it wasn’t right, and it shouldn’t have gone that far in the first place, and plus it happened in the city transit,” said the victim’s brother, Avery Pettigrew. “It’s not good for our community.”
