Shot Cabbie In Another Incident
A North Carolina man has been sentenced to 110 years in state prison for a series of armed robberies that took place in Queens in 2010–including one in which a livery cab driver was shot multiple times.
Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown identified the defendant as Shawn Peace, 26, of Copper Creek in Charlotte, North Carolina, and formerly of 118th Avenue in Jamaica, who has been held in jail in lieu of bail since his arrest in January 2011. He was convicted of second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault, first-degree robbery and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon in February 2014 following a three-week jury trial before Queens County Supreme Court Justice Gregory L. Lasak, who imposed last Thursday, May 22, the determinate sentence of 110 years in prison.
Brown said, “Having committed a series of violent 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, the defendant has proven himself to be a menace to society. With today’s sentence, the public can rest assured that the defendant will no longer be a threat as he will be spending the rest of his life behind bars.”
According to trial testimony pertaining to the Dec. 3, 2010, robbery, a livery cab driver employed by Big D’s Royal Cab Service, located on Merrick Boulevard in Jamaica, Queens, picked up Peace as a fare when he walked up to the cab service’s office at approximately 8:50 p.m. and requested to be taken to 117-60 122nd Street–an address located on a dead-end street 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 driver multiple times in his neck and limbs before fleeing.
Shortly thereafter, police responded to a 911 call on the corner of 122nd Street and Sutter Avenue and found the driver slumped in the front driver’s seat of the cab with four gunshot wounds–one to the right hand, one to the neck, one to each leg. The victim was taken to a local Queens hospital for treatment of his wounds. To this day, 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 November 19, 2010, robbery of a Burger King located at 92-02 Atlantic Ave. in Ozone Park; and
– the November 21, 2010, robbery of a McDonald’s located at 166-05 Rockaway Blvd. in Ozone Park.
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.
