A Queens man fatally shot in the courtyard of a housing project was targeted because he came to the aid of a woman sexually assaulted on the street, according to friends and family.
Rahsaun Williams, 39, was hanging out with friends outside the Pomonok Houses off Parsons Blvd. near 65th Ave. in Flushing around 7:30 p.m. Friday when he got a call from a woman who told him a man had just touched her inappropriately, according to those close to Williams. Just days away from his 40th birthday, Williams was shot after exchanging words with his attacker, those close to him alleged.
“All of this, it was about a girl,” the victim’s mother, Beverly Williams, told the Daily News. “Some young man smacked her on her backside and she picked up the phone and called Rahsaun, and he came to defend her. It’s senseless.”
“It comes back to him being a helpful person,” Williams’ mother said. “He wasn’t confrontational — he was [about] right-or-wrong, and he felt that was wrong to do to her and came to defend her.”
Police initially stated they were hunting for a female shooter, but Williams’ mother, and friends who witnessed the altercation, said the assailant was a man who assaulted the woman at the center of the incident, and with whom Williams had an on-again, off-again relationship.
Williams was shot in both shoulders and in the abdomen, according to police, and died at New York-Presbyterian Hospital Queens, cops said.
Friends and family described Williams — a father of three — as loyal, charismatic, charming, outspoken and helpful.
“One thing about him is that his loyalty was solid, once he loved you and mess with you, he’s a loyal person and everyone knew that,” said Manny Keith, Williams’ best friend. “When you needed help from him for something and it was in his reach, he would 100% do it.”
“This whole situation is just unfortunate. The nature of it is just statistical, stupid, ‘hood, recycled incident and I just hate it. I wish I was there so I can tell him, ‘Hey let’s go over here’ so he wouldn’t be in the mix,” Keith said.
“He was only couple days away from his 40th birthday. This whole thing was senseless. I just wish he had more time to do more for his own life,” Keith said.
Thirty-nine year-old Rahsaun Williams was shot and killed in the courtyard of the Pomonok Houses in Queens on Friday. (Facebook)
Williams had recently moved into his first solo apartment, and was active in the tenant’s association.
“He just moved into an apartment few months ago. Just as he was getting settled and steady, this happens,” his mother said. ”There’s nothing he loved more than family. We are taking this hard.”
Williams’ mother said she was outside, walking her dogs when she got a call from a relative asking about Williams, whose nickname was “Badness.”
“I got a phone call from his cousin from Atlanta, and he asked if I was OK. And then they said ‘where’s Badness?’ and I said he’s down the block with the girl,” she said. “The cousin told me someone hit him up on Facebook and said Rahsaun got shot three times.”
“I put the dogs in the house, and I went running. As I was going to find out what’s going on, the ambulance is going back this way and me and the ambulance passed one another,” she said.
Williams’ mother, who gave him his nickname before he was born, explained when she was pregnant with him she slipped in the shower and broke her ankle.
“I knew then he was going to be a handful,” she said. “He was a busy body when he was a little boy. That was my heart,” she said, explaining Williams was the middle child and had two brothers.
“He was a good father,” said Chasnere Williams, Williams’ 16-year-old daughter. “He’s very charismatic, very funny, he has hope for everybody. He never pointed anyone in the wrong direction.”
Williams also had two sons, ages 4 and 2, and was studying to be a drug counselor to help vulnerable teenagers.
“He was going to get a laugh out of you,” said Keith. “He was naturally funny. He was a comedian, and he didn’t even know it.”
“I knew him since when we were in a playpen,” Keith added. “He’s a person who likes to be the center of attention, like when he comes into the room you’ll know that he is there. He’s a person who likes to make his presence felt.”
Williams planned to celebrate his upcoming birthday with friends and family at ‘Wild n’ Out’ at Barclays Center. His birthday was Oct. 9.
His mother said she plans to donate his organs — his skin, veins and eyes, she said.
“I don’t know if he wanted it or not, but I would think with him being him, being helpful he would want it,” she said.
With Kerry Burke