Friends say one of the men killed in the Brooklyn lounge mass shooting Sunday morning was known as a “peacemaker,” someone who often tried to calm down fights. But police believe he may have been one of the gunmen.
Jamel Andre Childs, 35, was at the Taste of the City Lounge on Franklin Avenue in Crown Heights when the shooting broke out. His friend, Rajawn Philips, said Childs often stepped in when tempers flared.
“He was a cool dude,” Philips, 49, said. “At clubs, when people start acting up, he’d be the one saying, ‘Chill out.’ He was always the guy telling people to stop fighting.”
Childs’ brother, Richard Childs Jr., added, “He wanted to save everyone. Jamel wanted to save the world.”
Still, police sources said early evidence shows Childs and a 19-year-old man, who also died in the shooting, may have been among those who opened fire.
The shooting happened around 3:30 a.m. Sunday, leaving three men dead — a 27-year-old, Childs, and another victim not yet identified. Nine other people, including five men and three women, were wounded. Investigators believe as many as four shooters were involved, and at least one victim is thought to be tied to the Folk Nation gang.
Richard Childs told the Daily News, “I was not there and do not believe him to be one of the shooters.”
Records show Jamel Childs was released on parole in 2023 after serving nearly eight years in prison for a 2018 robbery conviction in Brooklyn.
Philips said the violence began as a fight between two groups. “They said when the argument first happened, Jamel stopped it. Everyone kept partying. Then it started again, and that’s when it got out of control,” he explained.
Just this past June, Childs and his mother surprised his niece at her graduation.
“The family is grieving,” Richard Childs said. “He was a great brother, a great friend.”
