Queens D.A.: Valley Stream murder suspect found on the run

A Valley Stream man who has reportedly been on the run since September when he, with help from his mother, allegedly shot and killed a man in Far Rockaway, has been found and indicted on murder charges, according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.

Raymond Jackson, 22, of Hook Creek Boulevard was arrested in Florida and extradited to Queens, where on Dec. 16 he was charged with second-degree murder, along with criminal possession of a weapon and unlawful possession of personal identification information. His mother, Avita Campbell, 38, whom Jackson reportedly lives with, was arrested in late October and indicted on similar charges, including unlicensed vehicle operation. The two are scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 19. If convicted they could face 25 years-to-life in prison.

Authorities allege that the two conspired together to kill Lasaaun Lawrence, 27, in Far Rockaway over a “petty dispute” prosecutors say. At around 5:40 p.m. on Sept. 23, Campbell and Jackson were allegedly seen on video surveillance stopping their white BMW, which Campbell was reportedly driving, on Beach 31 Street in Far Rockaway. They proceeded to get out, and reportedly approached Lawrence, who was sitting in his car double parked nearby. Campbell was allegedly armed with what appeared to be a metal pipe and Jackson with a handgun.

Upon walking up to Lawrence, Katz’s office says Jackson allegedly shot Lawrence “point blank” with a handgun more than a dozen times. After he had stopped shooting, Campbell allegedly took the pipe and shattered Lawrence’s windshielf before they jumped back into the BMW and fled.

Upon her arrest, Campbell’s attorney in the case, Brooklyn-based Michael Kushner, said that the murder charges against his client were likely an effort to pressure Jackson into surrendering to the police.

“Their own allegations don’t point to her as the shooter,” Kushner said, adding. “I don’t think their evidence is going to show she’s guilty of murder in the second degree.”

Police reportedly pulled Campbell over on Oct. 2, and upon searching her vehicle, found a loaded silver and black handgun with addition ammunition inside a book bag. After an investigation, police reportedly discovered that the vehicle she was driving was the same BMW that she had allegedly been driving on the evening of the shooting. The gun police found was also allegedly a match to the one used to kill Lawrence.

Police also reportedly found $9,640 in cash, credit cards in other people’s name and a detailed ledger with the names and personal information of more than 700 different people. Some of the credit cards recovered reportedly matched the names of people listed in the ledger, police said.

“This mother and son duo allegedly teamed up to kill a man,” Katz said in a statement upon Jackson’s arrest. “A minor dispute over a few hundred dollars sparked this tragic shooting . . . This was a brutal, senseless killing that should not happen in our neighborhoods.”