Sex Offender Murdered In Kingsboro Psych Center, Cops Say

PROSPECT-LEFFERTS GARDENS, BROOKLYN — A registered sex offender's mysterious death inside a troubled Brooklyn psychiatric center is being investigated as a homicide, according to police and state records.

Shakim Devega, 28, was found unconscious and fatally wounded inside the Kingsboro Psychiatric Center on Clarkson and Albany avenues just before midnight Tuesday, police said.

Medics rushed Devega to Kings County Hospital, about six blocks down the street, but doctors were unable to save his life, said police.

Devaga had suffered injuries to the neck and the chief medical examiner deemed his death a homicide, police said.

The Brooklyn man was listed on the state's Sex Offender Registry following his 2019 conviction for sexually abusing a 6-year-old boy, state records show.

Devaga served 42 months in a state prison before entering Kingsboro Pysch, an inpatient care center for those who suffer from serious mental illness, according to the registry and the state's Office of Mental Health's website.

In 2011, the Daily News reported that the center was rife with violence and mayhem. "Violence has become a way of life at KPC," according to a 2009 report quoted by the Daily News.

Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced in 2021 that $400 million would be spent redeveloping the 7.2 acre western end of the campus, including a residential development with 900 affordable apartments. The psychiatric center would remain on site.

A spokesperson for the state's Office of Mental Health said that they were "cooperating fully with law enforcement," but declined to provide further information, citing privacy concerns.

Police said that there have been no arrests as of Friday morning and the investigation remains ongoing.