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Man Suspected Of Killing Girlfriend In Far Rockaway Was "Possessed, Hallucinating"
By
Scott Heins
Published Jan 28, 2016
Modified Jan 28, 2016
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By
Scott Heins
Published Jan 28, 2016
Modified Jan 28, 2016
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Police are still searching for Tyquan Long, 29, in connection with the shooting death of his girlfriend, Joann Gravette, who was murdered just before 11 a.m. Wednesday in her Beach 32nd Street apartment in Far Rockaway.
Gravette and Long had been dating for roughly five years, but recently the 36-year-old woman's family had become concerned that drug addiction had made the man increasingly dangerous. Gravette's mother told the Times that Long had been abusing K2, a strain of synthetic marijuana.
Long reportedly accused Joann Gravette of cheating before allegedly shooting her in the torso and fleeing her apartment. As he left the building, Long encountered another resident—a 51-year-old woman whose son he suspected was having an affair with Gravette. Long allegedly fired at the woman and struck her in the hand.
The woman was brought to St. John's University Hospital in stable condition, but Gravette was declared dead at the scene of a gunshot wound to her torso. An NYPD spokesperson confirmed today that no arrests have been made.
"He took my first born child," Yolanda Gravette told the Daily News. "I would have rather he just kill me."
Gravette had worked as a medical biller and was raising a 17-year-old son. She had been living in the high-rise Queens apartment since the late 1990s.
Johnnie Kelly, one of Gravette's friends and next-door neighbors, told the Times he had recently received phone messages from Long, "demanding money from him and threatening violence. He said he needed some money, or there would be bloodshed."
“He was possessed, like she couldn’t be with nobody but him,” Yolanda Gravette told the Times. “He was hallucinating.”
Tagged
gun violence
k2
queens
rockaway
shooting
Scott Heins
Scott Heins is a freelance photo and video journalist based in New York City, and a frequent contributor to Gothamist + WNYC. His work often centers around labor rights, housing, and policing. In 2018-2019 he traveled to four states while covering a wave of public school teachers strikes, with work featured in The New York Times, The Intercept, Getty Images, Splinter, and Bloomberg Photos. Scott is a dues-paying member of the National Writers Union's Freelance Solidarity Project.
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