Suspect Arrested Nearly 2 Years After Harlem Murder, Police Say

HARLEM, NY — Police have arrested a suspect nearly two years after a man was shot and killed on a Harlem street — after having initially named a different person as the culprit.

Alex Neal, a 32-year-old Harlem man, was gunned down the afternoon of Dec. 6, 2020 on the corner of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard and West 129th Street, police said.

Neal lived just a block away, was rushed to Harlem Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Months later, in April 2021, police named a 28-year-old man as the alleged murderer and asked the public for help finding him.

But on Wednesday, police announced they had arrested a different suspect: 27-year-old Garry Bowen, a resident of the NYCHA Wagner Houses in East Harlem.

Bowen was charged with murder and weapon possession in connection with Neal's killing, police said.

Police did not immediately respond to questions about whether the man identified last April was still considered a suspect.