Shot Cabbie In Ozone Park Caper
A North Carolina man was convicted last week of a series of armed robberies that took place in Queens in 2010- including one in which a livery cab driver was shot multiple times, prosecutors announced.
Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown identified the defendant as Shawn Peace, 25, of Charlotte, N.C., formerly of 118th Avenue in Jamaica, who has been held in jail in lieu of bail since his arrest in January 2011. Peace was convicted of seconddegree attempted murder, first-degree assault, first-degree robbery and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon following a three-week jury trial before Queens County Supreme Court Justice Gregory L. Lasak.
Sentencing is set for Mar. 26, at which time Peace faces in excess of 25 years in prison.
“[Peace] stands convicted of committing a series of serious felonies-including the attempted murder of a livery cab driver and the shooting of a fast food restaurant employee-during a string of armed robberies,” Brown said in a statement last Thursday, Feb. 6. “He has proven himself to be a menace to others and deserves the maximum sentence allowed by law.”
According to trial testimony, on the night of Dec. 3, 2010, a livery cab driver employed by Big D’s Royal Cab Service, located at 117-02 Merrick Blvd. in Jamaica, picked up Peace as a fare at the cab service’s office. Peace requested to be taken to a location on 122nd Street, a deadend block in South Ozone Park.
Once at the location, a struggle ensued between the two men as they sat in the front seat of the cab, during which Peace shot the cab driver multiple times in his neck and limbs before fleeing.
Shortly thereafter, police responded to a 911 call at the corner of 122nd Street and Sutter Avenue and found the driver slumped in the front seat of the cab with four gunshot wounds-one to the right hand, one to the neck, one to the left leg and one to the right leg.
The driver was taken to a local Queens hospital for treatment of his wounds. To this day, prosecutors said, he still suffers from the effects of two strokes that occurred when the bullet was removed from his neck/head.
The other five robberies in which Peace was tried and convicted included:
– the July 15, 2010, robbery of a McDonald’s located at 256-01 Union Tpke. in Glen Oaks;
– the Aug. 8, 2010, robbery of a Wendy’s located at 222-06 Northern Blvd. in Bayside;
– the Aug. 19, 2010, robbery of a Popeye’s Fried Chicken, located at 245-01 Francis Lewis Blvd. in Rosedale, in which, a store employee was shot in the hand while trying to apprehend Peace;
– the Nov. 19, 2010, robbery of a Burger King located at 92-02 Atlantic Ave. in Ozone Park; and
– the Nov. 21, 2010, robbery of a McDonald’s located at 166-05 Rockaway Blvd. in South Jamaica.
Assistant District Attorney Mark E. Misorek of the DA’s Career Criminal Major Crimes Bureau prosecuted the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys James W. Evangelou, bureau chief, and Robert J. Hanophy, deputy bureau chief, and the overall supervision of Senior Executive Assistant District Attorney for the Trial Division James C. Quinn.
