Brooklyn Man Arrested For 2022 Murder

Nearly a year after a 26-year old man was murdered in Far Rockaway, police have arrested a suspect.

In March 2022, Jovan Springer, 29, was allegedly caught on video walking with Peter Panthier, when he turned and shot him in the neck and head at point blank range in a driveway on Grassmere Terrace in Far Rockaway. Springer then fled. Police responded to a ShotSpotter report of gunfire and found Panthier lying in a pool of blood. He was taken to St. John’s Episcopal Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

On Sunday, January 29, NYPD homicide detectives took Springer into custody at the 101st precinct where he was charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon. Both Springer and Panthier lived in Brooklyn.

Panthier, originally from Dominica, was a young stage actor and math teacher. A motive for the shooting in unknown.

Springer was arrested in an unrelated incident when he was caught trying to ditch a loaded gun. He had also violated an order of protection on Jan. 18, when he choked a woman and held a gun to her head. Springer was ordered held without bail during his arraignment on Sunday.