Cops released a photo Wednesday of a suspect in the fatal shooting of a 21-year-old man at a crowded graduation barbeque outside the Robert Fulton Houses in Chelsea more than a month ago.
The man — suspected of shooting Raqiese Cohen, 21, in the neck on W. 17th St. the night of June 4 — was seen in the image wearing a blue sweatshirt, and ran away heading east on 18th St. and Eighth Ave., cops said.
Cohen was found sprawled on a bench when police arrived. Multiple bullet-shell casings were left strewn on the ground near the disturbing scene outside the New York City Housing Authority development. EMS rushed Cohen to Bellevue Hospital, where he later died.
“It sounded like fireworks,” one 42-year-old resident, who would only give his name as Jim, told the Daily News at the time. “All the kids were running around like crazy.” Cohen, the resident added, “was slanted, lying on the bench. He wasn’t moving. I called 911 and ran down with a first-aid kit and handed it to officers.”
Cohen lived in the housing project, just a few feet from where he was gunned down, residents said. A motive for the shooting has not been disclosed.
More than 200 people had gathered at the barbeque celebrating the recent graduation of Fulton Houses teen residents.
