AK-47 Shells Found At Queens Murder Scene

AK-47 shell casings were reportedly found at the scene of a brazen shooting that left a 17-year-old boy dead in the Queens borough of New York early Saturday.

Xavier Granville was standing outside with friends on Beach 15th Street in the rough, Superstorm Sandy-damaged Far Rockaway neighborhood at about 12:30 a.m. EST when two men wearing ski masks showed up and started firing, police sources told the New York Post.

Granville took a bullet to the head and quickly died, authorities told the Post, which reported that AK-47 and .45-caliber pistol shell casings were found at the crime scene. But police sources do not yet know which gun killed Granville, why he was targeted, or whether he was a gang member.

The New York Daily News interviewed the murder victim's mother, Shakira Granville, after she identified her high-school junior son's body at the morgue.

“My son didn’t deserve to go out like this,” Granville told the Daily News. “The pain I feel. I’m just in shock.”

Her only son enjoyed video games and the ocean, and he planned to be a marine biologist, Granville said.

A witness of the murder said he did not believe the shooters meant to kill him, and that it may have been a case of mistaken identity. “I don’t think those bullets were intended for him,” he told the News. “Everyone loved Xavier.”

The Saturday shooting came almost six months after an AK-47 shooting in the Springfield Gardens neighborhood of Queens that left three men dead and at least 63 rounds at the crime scene, according to the New York Post.

MyFoxNY said anyone who has information that may be useful to law-enforcement authorities attempting to solve the latest Queens AK-47 murder case should call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).