A 20-year-old Bronx man has been arrested in the 2022 killing of NYCHA maintenance worker Nelson Mattocks, a shooting that stunned residents around the St. Mary’s Park Houses and has been under investigation for more than a year and a half.
Police say officers took Xavier Washington into custody on Thursday and charged him with murder in connection with the case. Mattocks, 49, was found behind the Saint Mary’s Park Houses with a gunshot wound to the face and later died at Lincoln Medical Center. Investigators had already arrested a 16-year-old shortly after the shooting and said they could not initially determine which of the two suspects fired the fatal shot.
According to News 12 Bronx, Washington’s Thursday arrest and formal charging mark a key development in the long-running probe.
Shooting And Investigation
Police say the shooting unfolded on the afternoon of Aug. 19, 2022, just after 4 p.m., behind the St. Mary’s Park Houses when two young people on a motorized scooter opened fire, according to CBS New York.
Video released by investigators later that month helped lead to the arrest of a 16-year-old, and detectives circulated additional surveillance footage as they searched for a second suspect, 1010 WINS reported.
Victim And Family
Mattocks, a 49-year-old Queens resident who worked as a NYCHA maintenance man, had been on a break when he was shot, and he later died at Lincoln Medical Center, according to ABC7 New York. His killing, in a public housing complex filled with families, struck a nerve far beyond his own block.
Relatives urged officials to get guns off neighborhood streets, calling for stronger action to prevent more senseless shootings, El Diario NY reported.
Charges And Next Steps
Washington is now charged with murder, and police say both he and the previously arrested teen face additional counts that include manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon, per News 12 Bronx.
Authorities are still asking anyone with information to contact the NYPD or Crime Stoppers. Prosecutors have not yet released further comment on where the case heads next.
