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NEW YORK, NY – Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Suzette Olin, 68, has been convicted of manslaughter for her role in the death of Shaka Ifil, her daughter’s boyfriend and father of their newborn child. Ifil was shot in the back in his Woodhaven home, and Olin now faces up to 25 years in prison.
Evidence presented during the trial included security camera footage and DNA tests linking Olin to the scene. Ifil was found with a gunshot wound to his back and later pronounced dead at Jamaica Hospital. Olin was arrested on September 18, 2020.
District Attorney Katz said, “The jury convicted this defendant in the cold-blooded death of the father of her grandchild. She is being held to account.”
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.
- 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 and later pronounced dead, the bullet having 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.
