Police say the suspect walked up to a group of men standing with their motorcycles in Ozone Park and pointed a gun, demanding they turn over the keys to the motorcycles.
When officers arrived, they found the suspect lying on the ground with a gunshot wound to the head.
He later died at Jamaica Hospital.
It happened at about 10:30 Saturday night on Rockaway Boulevard and 95th Avenue.
Police confirm that the man who fired the fatal shot was an off-duty New York State corrections officer.
Authorities are not releasing his name, or that of the suspect.