Man fatally shot in Bronx with daughter in his arms: cops

The last thing Allen McQueen saw before succumbing to a gunshot blast to the head was his wide-eyed baby girl still cradled in his tattooed arms.

The 21-year-old Bronx gangbanger was grasping one-year-old Taylor when he was fatally shot on Taylor Ave. near Guerlain Ave. in Parkchester at 1:23 p.m., police said.

Despite being mortally wounded, he held onto the tot until he fell unconscious and hit the ground.



Little Taylor — who celebrated her first birthday last month and was nicknamed “The Diva” — tumbled out of her father’s grasp, but was quickly scooped up by a woman who watched the carnage, witnesses said.

“The guy shot a man with a baby,” one stunned onlooker said. “Who does that? Who shoots a man holding a baby?”

McQueen’s siblings were equally horrified.

"My brother didn't deserve to die like that,” his sister Jennifer McQueen, 35, said. “Suppose the bullet would have hit my niece?"

DCPI
Surveillance video shows the suspect who shot Allen McQueen on July 8 on Taylor Avenue in the Bronx. McQueen at the time of the shooting was holding his 1-year-old daughter.
The shooting took place across the street from the Taylor Playground, which was teeming with children Tuesday afternoon as temperatures hit 84 degrees.

McQueen died at Jacobi Medical Center.

His mother, Regina McQueen-Hines, was inconsolable, family members said.

“She was screaming and was in shock,” said McQueen’s aunt Bianca, who refused to give her last name. “I just think that she is happy that nothing happened to the baby."

Moments after McQueen died, his brother was outside the emergency room, screaming in anguish.

“My brother just died,” cried the sibling, who wished not to be named. “He got shot in the f------ head! They shot my kid brother!”

HANDOUT
McQueen ran away from the gunfire with his baby, named Taylor according to family members, in his arms until he collapsed on the ground a few feet away.
Taylor was also taken to Jacobi for observation.

"They are running tests on her because when (McQueen) fell he had her in his arms," Bianca said.

Family members said McQueen doted on Taylor.

“My brother loved his daughter,” Jennifer McQueen said. “Every breath... every minute he was excited to see his daughter. He was a good-hearted man.”

Cops, however, have a different description of the young dad.

McQueen’s been arrested 23 times, mostly for robbery and assault, and was known to carry a gun, according to police sources.


RICHARD HARBUS/FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
An NYPD officer searches for evidence under cars at the scene of the shooting.

RICHARD HARBUS/FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Police investigate the shooting on Taylor Ave.

RICHARD HARBUS/FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
A woman reacts to Tuesday's tragic shooting that killed 21-year-old Allen McQueen in the Bronx.
He was also a member of the Taylor Crew, a violent street gang that operates on Taylor Ave.

“He had problems with other people, but he’s young,” McQueen’s father Woodrow Hines, 60, admitted. “He was a good dad. He had just left our house, too. He said he was taking her to the park.”

The gunman, described as a man in his 20s wearing a black shirt with white lettering, drove off in a Mercedes-Benz with a license plate beginning with the letter G, law enforcement sources said. He remained at large Tuesday night.

On March 12, cops arrested McQueen after finding him in a stolen white Mercedes on E. 135th St. in the Bronx with a license plate that started with a G, but the two cases do not appear to be related, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation.

A motive for the gunplay was not immediately known, leaving family members with more questions than answers — and regrets that will never be overcome.

"I feel like I didn't do my job to protect my little brother,” Jennifer McQueen said. “I feel like I didn't protect him."