Former Jamaican policeman charged in Greenlawn shooting of ex-girlfriend
A Greenlawn man was arrested hours after police say he shot his ex-girlfriend as she tried to drive away on Leigh Street, leaving her with a spinal cord injury.
A Greenlawn shooting that unfolded before dawn on Leigh Street left a 40-year-old woman seriously wounded and, prosecutors say, may have left her paralyzed. Authorities arrested Eric Giovanni Whilby, 37, of Greenlawn, hours later in New Rochelle and charged him with first-degree assault and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
Suffolk County Police said the shooting was domestic-related and happened at about 12:52 a.m. on June 4, 2026, on Leigh Street in Greenlawn. The victim was taken to a local hospital with serious injuries after the shooter fled the scene immediately. Later reporting said prosecutors identified the woman as Whilby’s ex-girlfriend and said he fired into her vehicle as she tried to drive away.
Those same accounts said the blast caused a spinal cord injury that could leave the victim paralyzed, underscoring how quickly an intimate-partner confrontation can turn into a life-altering attack. In a neighborhood where people expected a quiet overnight block, the gunfire became the first sign that a domestic dispute had crossed into violence.
Police arrested Whilby at about 8:40 a.m. on Pelham Road in New Rochelle with help from New York State Police Troop T and the New Rochelle Police Department. He was expected to be arraigned in Suffolk County First District Court in Central Islip on June 5, 2026.
Neighbors told News 12 they were awakened by a gunshot and then heard people crying after the shooting, a detail that captured the shock on the block as officers began their search. Suffolk County Police asked anyone with information about the case to contact the Suffolk County Police Second Squad or Crime Stoppers.
For Greenlawn residents, the case has become a stark reminder that domestic violence can escalate in seconds, often before neighbors know what is happening. In this case, the violence moved from a street in Suffolk County to an arrest in Westchester County before sunrise, leaving a community to reckon with the speed and severity of the attack.
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