Bronx shooting victim robbed of gold chain by killers, suspect nabbed in new shooting

Rocco Parascandola, Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News
Updated ·2 min read

A 28-year-old man shot to death in the Bronx was targeted for his gold chain — and a suspect was nabbed four months later after opening fire on another victim, cops said Thursday.

Courtney Howell was shot in his car about 7 p.m. Nov. 19, stumbling out of the vehicle and collapsing near Morris Ave. and E. 174th St., police said.

The killers fled with the victim’s gold chain, police revealed Thursday. Howell, struck in the face, hand and chest, was rushed by medics to St. Barnabas Hospital but could not be saved.

Rashawn Pough, 29, was arrested on Sedgewick Ave. in Fordham about 2 a.m. Tuesday after he allegedly opened fire on a 39-year-old man looking for parking in the area, cops said.

Pough’s Tuesday target was rolling down the street in his car when he got into an argument with Pough and another man, cops said.

Pough allegedly pulled a black-and-silver .40-caliber Taurus G2 pistol and fired twice at the victim inside the car but missed him, according to cops. One of the shots hit the victim’s vehicle.

Pough was arrested at the scene and was hit with a raft of charges including attempted murder, gun possession and reckless endangerment.

He threw the gun to the ground when cops approached but cops found it just 10 feet away from him when they put him in handcuffs, according to police.

“I’m going to man up to what I did,” Pough told cops, admitting to tossing the gun. “I was threatened by the victim. (He) told me he had a gun.”

Pough’s victim wasn’t armed, police said.

As he was being processed, cop realized Pough was being sought in Howell’s murder.

Dante Williamson, 33, who prosecutors said was the trigger man in the November slaying, was nabbed Jan. 24. Williamson allegedly shot Howell both in the head and the body, according to court papers.

Both he and Pough are charged with murder and gun possession for Howell’s slaying and are now being held without bail.

The victim lived in the Wakefield section of the Bronx. He was arrested in Queens in September for allegedly yanking a woman’s hair during a domestic dispute. He also had two prior drugs arrests, one in 2018 and one in 2017, police said.