Photo Courtesy of Google
Olin shot Ifil in his Woodhaven home.
By Forum Staff
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Suzette Olin was convicted on Friday of manslaughter for her role in the death of Shaka Ifil, her daughter’s boyfriend and the father of her daughter’s newborn.
Ifil was shot once in the back while in his Woodhaven home.
Olin, 68, of Far Rockaway, was convicted by a jury on March 31 in Queens Supreme Court of manslaughter in the first degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree.
According to the trial testimony:
On July 26, 2020, at approximately 2 p.m., an upstairs neighbor of Ifil’s on 91st Avenue heard a commotion in his apartment and, a few minutes later, walked downstairs and found his door open. Ifil was on the floor with a gunshot wound to his back.
Photo Courtesy of Google
Ifil was rushed to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead.
The neighbor called 911 and when police arrived, the 40-year-old Ifil told them he was dying and that his girlfriend’s mother shot him. He was taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center and later pronounced dead. The bullet hit several major organs and blood vessels.
Security camera video showed a woman who appeared to be smoking a cigarette get out of an Access-A-Ride car service vehicle near Ifil’s home at about 1:51 p.m. July 26, 2020, and then leave the home at 2:01 p.m. The woman was identified as Olin and a DNA test of a cigarette butt found in the apartment was linked to her.
An investigation revealed that three days before the shooting, Olin’s daughter filed a domestic incident report with police alleging Ifil broke a door in their apartment. Police responded, and bodycam footage showed the broken door. The girlfriend did not appear to be injured.
Olin was arrested on Sept. 18, 2020.
“The jury convicted this defendant in the cold-blooded death of the father of her grandchild,” Katz said. “She is being held to account.”
Olin faces a sentence of up to 25 years in prison.
