Cops search for Long Beach shooter

Long Beach’s North Park section has become hardened to poverty, food insecurity and drug abuse, but a shooting death last Friday night rocked the mostly Black neighborhood and had residents on edge as police searched for a gunman.

Nassau County Police said that after a brief struggle late Friday night, 33- year-old Shawn Usher was shot and killed. Police said Usher had been shot “numerous times.” Officers did not say what had caused the shooting. Usher was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Usher’s body was found at about 10:38 p.m. Friday at Sycamore Court at the Channel Park homes.

Last weekend, a makeshift memorial of candles was placed on Sycamore Court, not far from Usher’s home. A brief memorial service was held Saturday night, and several people gathered at the memorial site on Easter Sunday to offer prayers for the Usher family and to exchange condolences.

Police would only say they were looking for the gunman, but they did not provide a description. Shootings are rare in Long Beach, with around three or four occurring each year, police say.

Usher was described by friends as the father of twin 9-year-old boys. His mother, Sylvia Gray, is a minister at Evangelical Revival Community Church in Long Beach, not far from where the shooting took place. Family members did not want to speak to the media, friends said.

Ron McHenry, a noted North Park artist and a friend of the family, said Usher had been a rapper and was well-known in the community. Others said that he had worked as an oil technician, spending a large amount of time traveling the country and the world.

Community members said Usher had been raised in Long Beach and had lived in the city all of his life. He was known for his expertise on the basketball court.

“It’s such a loss for the community,” said Bo Johnson, 38, who has known Usher for all of their lives. “All I remember is him working and working and working. He was just working in Texas last week. He just got back.”

McHenry said the shooting is another example of the gun violence that is permeating the country.

“It’s unfortunate what’s going on in this country,” McHenry said Monday morning.  “The community does not have access to adequate health care or education, but there is lots of access to guns. The killing doesn’t stop, and what are we doing as a nation about it?”

James Hodge, a former Martin Luther King Center board chairman who a few weeks ago announced his candidacy for City Council, said in a statement: “My heart goes out to the families affected by the tragic shooting in Channel Park Homes this past weekend. Gun violence has no place in our city and it’s time for more action.”

Hodge said he was calling on Long Beach’s city manager, police commissioner and City Council to “take action.”

“All levels of government must work together with community leaders and organizations on different ways to eradicate gun violence,” Hodge stated. “Let’s come together to find solutions to prevent senseless acts of violence from happening again.”

Hodge said the Christian Light Missionary Baptist Church previously has worked with the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office and the county police department to put together a gun buy-back program. He said about 552 guns were received by the authorities through such programs, which have since ended. Hodge said he lost his own nephew to gun violence a few years ago, not far from where the latest shooting took place.

The last time there was gunfire in Long Beach was in June 2021, after some 2,500 mostly young people gathered for what they called a “Sunset Party” at the boardwalk at New York Avenue. The shooting occurred after the crowd was largely dispersed. Police said they found a 22-year-old man who had been shot in the buttocks numerous times. The man was rushed to a hospital and recovered.  A man who ran from the scene was arrested on a weapons charge.

Detectives ask anyone with information about Friday’s shooting to contact Nassau County Crime Stoppers at (800) 244-8477 or call 911. All callers will remain anonymous, they said.