FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, May 9, 2019
Brooklyn Man Convicted of Murder for Fatally Shooting
Livery Cab Driver During Attempted Robbery
Defendant Caught on Surveillance Video Firing Weapon Inside Vehicle,
Victim, a Father of Four, Was Struck Five Times
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a 27-year-old man has been found guilty of first-degree murder for fatally shooting a 35-year-old livery cab driver while attempting to rob him.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “The victim in this case was a dedicated father of four who worked at a bodega during the day and then drove a cab at night to provide a better life for his family. His dreams were destroyed when this defendant needlessly shot him while trying to rob him of his hard-earned money. I am committed to keeping people safe from violence such as this, which devastates so many lives.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Unique Gray, 27, of East New York, Brooklyn. He was convicted today of first-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon following a jury trial before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Jill Konviser. He faces up to life in prison without parole when he is sentenced on May 30, 2019.
The District Attorney said that, according to the evidence, on June 29, 2015, the defendant and another man, Tyrell Gardenhire, flagged down the victim’s cab, at approximately 12:20 a.m., and ordered him to pull over on Decatur Street near Malcolm X Boulevard in Bedford-Stuyvesant. The defendant fatally shot the victim, Fawaz Naji, 35, inside his cab while attempting to rob him. The victim was struck five times, including in the face, the back, the arm and in his hand.
Surveillance video stills from inside the victim’s cab show the defendant, who was seated in the back seat, firing a revolver from behind the victim. He then fled the scene, leaving his cellphone inside the cab.
The defendant was apprehended in North Carolina on August 29, 2015 and extradited to Brooklyn.
The co-defendant, Gardenhire, 28, pleaded guilty to first-degree attempted robbery on March 13, 2019 and was sentenced to nine years in prison and five years’ post-release supervision.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Bernarda Villalona, of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau, and Assistant District Attorney Evelina Rene, of the District Attorney’s Green Zone Trial Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Timothy Gough, Homicide Bureau Chief.
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