Man Pleads Guilty To Bar Death

A Queens man has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the shooting death of an off-duty paramedic during an argument in a Queens bar.
District Attorney Richard A. Brown said, “Instead of trying to settle their dispute peacefully, the defendant chose to end his argument with the victim by resorting to gun violence. He will now be held accountable for the intentional shooting of the victim, a paramedic who had earned his livelihood saving lives. The crime is an alarming example of gun-related violence that takes innocent lives and endangers public safety.”
The district attorney identified the defendant as Anthony O’Connor, 45, of 50-34 40th Street in Sunnyside.
The defendant pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the first degree before Queens Supreme Court Justice Robert J. Hanophy who indicated that he would sentence the defendant to a determinate term of 17 and one-half years in prison on May 11, 2006.
Brown said that the defendant admitted that he fired a .38 caliber revolver at Erik Gonzalez, 30, striking him once in the torso, fatally wounding him. The incident occurred during a fight inside the Easy Street Bar, located at 36-18 Greenpoint Avenue in Sunnyside, during the early morning hours of Sunday, February 22, 2004.
The deceased was employed as a paramedic for MetroCare Ambulance in Mount Vernon, New York, and St. Vincent’s Hospital in Manhattan.