FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, February 5, 2016
Brooklyn Gang Member Sentenced to 20 Years to Life in Prison for
Killing 13-Year-Old Boy in Brownsville Shooting
Fired Three Times at Group on Street Corner, Bragged about it in Prison Calls
Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson today announced that a 21-year-old Brooklyn man was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for killing a 13-year-old boy when he opened fire at a group of people on a Brownsville street corner in 2012.
District Attorney Thompson said, “This violent gang member senselessly murdered a 13-year old boy because he simply has no regard for human life – and even laughed about how he shot and killed that young child. He will now spend many years behind bars, where one day he may come to truly regret the innocent life that he took.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Akbar Johns, 21, of 500 Thatford Avenue in Brownsville, Brooklyn. He was sentenced today by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Neil Firetog to 20 years to life in prison following his conviction on January 20, 2016 on charges of second-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon after a jury trial.
The District Attorney said that, according to trial testimony, on August 24, 2012 at 12:30 a.m., the defendant fired a .38-caliber revolver three times, killing Ronald Wallace Jr., 13, who was standing with a group of young people at the corner of Tapscott Street and Blake Avenue in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
The victim’s older brother and another eyewitness testified that they saw the defendant approach. He said, “What’s crackin?” then fired a gun at the group and tossed the weapon into bushes, according to testimony.
The defendant, a member of the Bully Crip set, was arrested on September 2, 2012 in Cumberland, Maryland, and subsequently gave oral and written statements admitting to committing the shooting. He later bragged about his involvement in recorded conversations from Rikers Island, the evidence showed.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Yaniris Urraca of the District Attorney’s Violent Criminal Enterprises Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Patrick O’Connor and Assistant District Attorney Nicole Chavis, Chief, and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney William E. Schaeffer, Chief of the District Attorney’s Investigations Division.
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