Triple-Murder, Suicide In Cambria Heights

When the police arrived at a Cambria Heights house 13 minutes after receiving a 911 call from a distressed woman, they found four dead bodies. Twenty-year-old Jimmie Dawkins shot his mother, her boyfriend, and the boyfriend's health care aide before shooting himself.

The police say that hospital worker Sonia Taylor called 911 at 11:38AM, fearing for her life when her son arrived. She told the operator, "A terrible thing is going to happen." But Dawkins and Taylor's fight escalated when Dawkins shot Taylor and then health care aide Syndia Jean-Pierre. Dawkins then broke into a bedroom and shot Taylor's wheelchair-bound boyfriend, Arnold Lawson. Lawson's nephew Laurice Johnson, who was visiting from Jamaica to help his uncle recover from a recent stroke, hid in the closet to escape Dawkins' bullets. After Dawkins left the room, Johnson escaped out a window and ran for help.

Taylor had apparently called the police twice on Monday, but the police said since the incident were disputes and because there were no crimes committed or weapons present, they could not arrest him. From the NY Times:

Mr. Dawkins was taken to Long Island Jewish Hospital for emotional disturbance in October, after his mother, who worked at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan, called the police, saying he was throwing things around the house. In that instance, too, the police said there was insufficient evidence to arrest Mr. Dawkins. It is unclear whether he was admitted to the hospital. But Ms. Taylor filed a complaint with the Police Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau because she thought that he should have been arrested, the police said.

Ms. Taylor’s sister, Ann Taylor, lashed out at the authorities yesterday, saying her sister had called the police seven times in recent days — the police confirm only the three — because she was desperate for protection against her son.

Taylor's sister also told NY1, "My sister pleaded to the Police Department. My sister even called the internal affairs when they wouldn’t cooperate, but no one wanted to cooperate. No one wanted to get the crazy boy – the boy who was obviously suffering from a mental disorder. No one would get him out of the house. He was threatening my sister. The internal affairs wouldn't do anything. She exhausted every method, and nobody did anything – until this tragedy happened.”

Jean-Pierre's husband told the Daily News, "There were some arguments there, but I figured it was some internal thing with the family."