New York police have released a photo of the scooter-riding suspect accused of fatally shooting 14-year-old Malaki Adams in Queens on Monday afternoon. Investigators are examining whether the killing was targeted, sources said.

The images show a masked person in a black hoodie and checkered gray pants riding a kick scooter. Sources told reporters the suspect stole Adams’ scooter after shooting him in the back around 3:40 p.m.

Adams was riding his scooter when the gunman approached him with a firearm, sources said. The teen tried to flee before he was shot. The suspect then left on the scooter and was last seen heading eastbound on Norton Avenue in Edgemere.

Adams was taken to Long Island Jewish Hospital, where he later died.

Friends and neighbors expressed grief over the teenager’s death. Some suggested he may have been a victim of neighborhood gang violence. A 16-year-old who is friends with Adams’ sister described him as “sweet and lovely” and called the killing “a gang shooting,” though she said she could not say whether Adams himself was in a gang.

A local resident said he heard two shots and had seen the alleged shooter in the area before. “You see the mask! He ain’t letting no one see his face,” the man said. “All these gangs here.”

In a fundraiser for burial expenses, Adams’ mother, Alexis Credle, wrote that her “beautiful son” was taken far too soon and that she would carry him in her heart every day.

Source: New York Post reporting, Sept. 22, 2026.