Missing School Safety Guard Found Dead In East River, Police Say

GREENPOINT, BROOKLYN — An NYPD school safety officer who went missing in December was found dead in the East River Tuesday evening, police said.

Lamar Gamble, 33, was found in the East River near Hunts Point in The Bronx around 6:15 p.m., five months after he disappeared, according to police.

Gamble was last seen by a bartender outside the Shayz Lounge — where Gamble worked as a doorman — at 130 Franklin St. around 4:15 a.m. on Dec. 17, police and friends said.

Emergency responders pulled his body out of the water and pronounced him dead on a nearby dock on May 24 , said police.

The medical examiner will determine the cause of death and the investigation remains ongoing, police said.

Gamble's aunt Natalie Powers, 50, from South Carolina, remembered her nephew as a warmhearted man who always came to pick her up from the airport and would never let her pay for anything during her visits.

Gamble loved reading novels and travel books, spending time with his family and watching over the students that were his responsibility as a school safety guard, Powers said.

"He was this very outgoing, very positive person," said Powers. "Laughable, lovable, always had concerns for everyone that he knew."

When Powers found out her nephew had gone missing — just a few weeks before his 34th birthday — she sank to the floor.

"Words could not even describe how I felt," she said. "Just loss."

Powers started a GoFundMe campaign in January to earn reward money for information about Gamble, but now she's hoping the money will go toward a donation in his name to a charity that helps the elderly.

Gamble was especially kind to his older relatives, visiting his grandmother on a regular basis and giving a powerful eulogy at his great-aunt's funeral, Powers said.

"He spoke so eloquently and he said, 'We’re not away, we’re right here, in each other's hearts.'"

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