Golden Gloves Boxer Shot Dead During Barbecue In New York

A boxer and former Golden Gloves competitor was fatally shot on Sunday, July 26, in Staten Island, New York City.

Police said the man, identified as 32-year-old Grashino Yancy, was shot near Palma Drive in Park Hill just after midnight. He suffered gunshot injuries to his right leg and was rushed to Staten Island University Hospital, where the doctors pronounced him dead.

According to eyewitnesses, the incident took place during a neighborhood barbecue, attended by more than 200 people.

"It was just a barbecue," a witness told New York Daily News. "With all of the commotion, I heard three or four gunshots."

The motive behind the shooting is still unclear. It is not known if authorities have identified any suspects.

Yancy competed in the 2012 Daily News Golden Gloves and was the winner of the P.C. Richard and Son Boxer of the Night award.

"He’s a professional boxer. He help everybody. He’s so nice. ... My kids is gonna miss him,” the victim’s brother, Hassan Sroura, told the news outlet. “He always helped people if you were down. If he don’t know you, he help you.”

"He don’t bother nobody. If anything, someone was bothering him,” a friend of Yancy’s, who wished not to be named, said. “You can go around this neighborhood and ask anybody about him ... Such an unfortunate situation."

Following Yancy’s death, his loved ones gathered at the scene with lit candles to pray for the peace of his soul.

"I’m asking everyone who knew him and loves him to celebrate his life with love and laughter in these heavy times," his sister Elle Afrikan wrote on Facebook. "If you knew how light hearted Grash really is ('is' because his energy will never die), you would understand that it’s what he would want right now."

According to his former coach, Pat Russo, Yancy had shifted to Minnesota and was back in town for a few days to mourn the death of a family member when the shocking incident took place.

"He was a good guy, he was a mentor to the kids," Russo said. "He gave back, he was a neighborhood kid. He was a positive fixture in the community. It’s pathetic that life has such little value today. It just makes me sick what’s happening."