Stray Bullet Killed College Athlete
A Baldwin man was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for the fatal November 2025 shooting of a 19-year-old student-athlete at a Hempstead house party.
On November 22, 2025, at approximately 10:50 p.m., Jacob McMillan tried to enter a house party at a home on Willow Avenue in Hempstead. McMillan approached the home and an individual throwing the party attempted to pat down the defendant before letting him in.
McMillan, refusing to be searched, pulled away, pulled out a gun and fired two shots at the individual who tried to pat him down. The victim was struck in the arm as he dove behind a car to shield himself from the gunfire. The defendant began to flee the home southbound on Kennedy Avenue.
McMillan then turned and fired one additional shot, which went through the shoulder of another victim and struck 19-year-old Monroe University student Amira McCleod, of St. Albans, Queens, who was attending the house party with her friends.
The shot struck McCleod in the head, killing her instantly. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
The two other gunshot victims were taken to local hospitals and treated for their injuries.
McMillan hid in a backyard one block south of the party until approximately 11:00 p.m., when he was picked up by a blue Ford Edge from a ride-sharing service. The car dropped the defendant to an address on Coolidge Avenue in Baldwin. The property abuts the defendant’s home on Wales Avenue.
As part of the investigation, extensive video surveillance was reviewed, showing the defendant in the same dark blue and black “North Face” winter jacket, light colored jeans, and black sneakers he was seen wearing at the party.
McMillan is captured on video exiting a Long Island Rail Road train at the Baldwin train station earlier in the evening, boarding a Nassau Inter-County Express (NICE) bus, and exiting that same bus at the intersection of Baldwin Road and Homan Boulevard a block south of the Willow Avenue home just before the shooting.
Doorbell camera footage from a home across the street from the Willow Avenue address also captured video of the defendant.
McMillan was arrested in Baldwin on December 2, 2025, by the Nassau County Police Department’s Bureau of Special Operations and Homicide Squad.
On June 4, 2026, McMillan, 19, pleaded guilty before Judge Helene Gugerty on charges of Murder in the Second Degree (a Class A-I felony); Attempted Murder in the Second Degree (a Class B violent felony); and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree (a Class C violent felony).
McMillan was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison on August 11.
“Amira McCleod was a gifted student athlete whose future was stolen in an instant by this defendant’s reckless disregard for human life,” said Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly. “Jacob McMillan chose to settle a petty dispute with violence and senselessly fired into a crowded party without a second thought, tragically killing Amira with a stray bullet. While no amount of prison time can ever replace Amira, we hope today’s sentence brings a measure of justice to her family, teammates, and community, knowing that this defendant will spend decades behind bars facing the severe consequences of his actions.”