A CITY corrections officer, who was aspiring to join the New York Police Department (NYPD), was shot and killed in a possible road-rage incident in Queens early Friday morning, police and family members said.

Jonathan Narain, 27, was in his 2013 maroon Honda Accord on his way to work at Rikers Island when a motorcyclist blasted him once in the head on 120th Street and 103rd Avenue in Richmond Hill around 1:45 a.m., cops said.

The corrections officer, who had nearly two years on the job, had just stopped at a store to pick up food before his life was cut short, authorities said. Emergency responders rushed Narain – who lived less than a mile away – to Jamaica Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

NYPD Chief of Citywide Investigations William Aubry, said surveillance footage from the scene revealed that the victim was making a U-turn when he had an initial encounter with the motorcyclist. Moments later, the motorcyclist pulled up alongside Narain’s car, which was stopped at a traffic light. “There was a short exchange of what we believe was a conversation — very, very short, only seconds, and then the shot was fired,” Aubry said.
The suspect, who police described as a dark-skinned man wearing dark clothing and a helmet, shot Narain one time in the left temple before fleeing. Police say that Narain was armed at the time, but his gun was not out. Authorities do not believe that the fatal attack was work-related.

Hours after the shooting, Narain’s devastated mother – a retired school cook for the Department of Education — showed up to the scene and gazed at the Honda in which her son died.

“His mom is really taking it hard. Everybody is taking it hard. We have a big family, and none of us expected this,” said Narain’s cousin, Kevin Ramdhani, 29.
Ramdhani called Narain “a good guy” and “a good cousin.” “We grew up together, doing things, playing laser tag…I’m just really sad right now. I still don’t believe it,” he said. “I saw him in the hospital and I still don’t believe it. I told him to wake up, open his eyes, talk to me— even though I knew he was gone.”
Narain, a Hindu with Guyanese roots who was active with his madrasa in East New York, Brooklyn, had dreams of joining the NYPD and had recently passed an entrance exam, Ramdhani said, noting that Narain “loved” working for the Department of Corrections. “He loved it, that job. He couldn’t stop talking about it,” Ramdhani recalled. “I would be like, ‘Doesn’t it feel like you’re in jail?’ and he’d be like, ‘No. I love my job.’ He loved the idea of keeping order and upholding the law.”

Ramdhani described Narain as “a go-getter.”

“That’s always been his MO,” said Ramdhani. “He came a long way — bachelor’s degree in business. I looked up to him, and he was younger than me. A lot of people don’t have motivation like he had.” Department of Corrections Commissioner Cynthia Brann, said in a statement: “The entire Department of Corrections is grieving this morning upon learning of the tragic shooting death of an off-duty corrections officer. My deepest sympathy and heartfelt condolences go out to the officer’s family, friends, and colleagues throughout the department. We are in close communication with the NYPD.”