Relatives of a DJ shot to death after a Queens house party are in the dark about why anyone would target him and two of his cousins, who were wounded as they loaded equipment into a van.
Nakender Bruno, 24, died a short time after he was shot in the abdomen early Sunday outside a house on 220th St. near 133rd Ave. in Laurelton, where he and two cousins had entertained a party crowd.
Another one of Bruno’s cousins, who was not at the party, said Bruno had no known beefs with anyone. Cops said none of the equipment was stolen.
There have been no arrests.
“What could they have done for somebody to come at him just like that?” the cousin said. “I don’t know if the person was preying on them to wait after the party finished and do something like that. I don’t understand what’s going on.”
Shots rang out just after 1 a.m., according to cops. When police arrived, they found a mortally wounded Bruno, his 33-year-old cousin also shot in the abdomen and his 24-year-old cousin, shot in the neck.
Bruno was rushed to Jamaica Hospital, where he later died. His cousins were both hospitalized in stable condition, authorities said.
The cousin said the family is struggling with Bruno’s death.
“As of right now, everybody’s mourning,” he said. “This is tragic for us. We never expect a situation like that … Not anything. They just finished doing what they were supposed to do and packing equipment and trying to go back home and this is what happened.”
He said he learned of the shooting from his brother.
“My brother called me and told me. He said that, ‘Yo, the guys got shot,’” the cousin said. “I said, ‘Who got shot?’ He said, ‘Yo, all three of them.’ I was like, ‘What? That’s crazy.’”
“I can’t really bear it,” he added. “This moment is really tragic to me and people have been calling me to wish me condolences and pray with me, give me strength and stuff so I can know what to do with the situation.”
He said Bruno was passionate about playing music.
“I don’t know what to say. He loves that,” the cousin said. “He tries to take it to a new level, to help people in the community. He was just doing a birthday party. He doesn’t really do big stuff at the moment. He was just doing his music just like that. We were supporting him.”
He wants cops to find the killer quickly.
“We need justice for what happened,” he said. “Nakender’s life should not just end up like that without getting justice. Because he wasn’t a person giving any problems in the community. He wasn’t a person giving a hard time to cause any harm to anybody.”
With Rocco Parascandola
