QUEENS — The Southeast Queens community is mourning a local businessman, coach and a father of three, who was fatally shot while sitting in a Mercedes-Benz in South Jamaica on Wednesday afternoon.
Jerwaine Gorman, 34, a Rosedale Jets head coach and board member of the South East Queens County Young Democrats, was fatally shot in the chest by a gunman who walked up to the car which was parked on 167th Street near Linden Boulevard around 12:30 p.m., police said.
“I cannot believe this,” said Adrienne Felton of the South East Queens County Democrats, a lifelong friend of Gorman. “This is a total shock for the entire community.”
According to his biography on the South East Queens County Democrats website, Gorman grew up in South Jamaica and then moved to Rosedale where he lived with his wife and children.
Gorman, who earned a finance degree from King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, PA, owned several properties in the area and opened an ice cream parlor called Gorman’s Creamery on Merrick Boulevard in Laurelton, according to his biography.
Gorman's friends said he was very involved in the community.
"He co-founded the Young Dems because he wanted to educate and empower our community to be politically savvy and civically engaged," Felton said.
“He was always uplifting someone, always helping someone,” she said. “He was a really good guy.”
Jacques Leandre, president of the Rosedale Jets Association, said that Gorman was a “loving, compassionate and caring man who contributed a lot to the community.”
He coached kids ages 8 to 12 for the last several years, Leandre said.
Councilman Donovan Richards, who represents Laurelton and Rosedale, wrote on his Facebook page that Gorman was “he was a father, husband, and positive young black male in our community."
“We have to stop killing each other,” Richards added.
Gorman, his friends said, had two young daughters and a son.
Gorman, police said, was sitting in the car with a woman, whose name has not been released, when he got shot. The woman, who sitting in the driver’s seat, was not injured, officials said.
Police said that the shooter fled on foot and no arrests have been made as of Thursday.
A motive for the crime remains unclear, authorities said.
