A 54-year-old man will now spend more than two decades behind bars for the fatal revenge shooting of a man in a Jamaica bar two years ago, according to authorities.
Reyes Manzueta pleaded guilty to manslaughter earlier this year for the shooting and on Monday was sentenced to 22 years in prison and five years’ post-release supervision.
According to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown, on Dec. 23, 2012, Manzueta visited the El Nuevo Café Latino on Jamaica Avenue when he came across the victim, 27-year-old Jony Gonzalez, sitting next to a woman at the bar.
Manzueta then hit he woman in the back of her head and she responded by throwing a bottle at him, Brown said. The 54-year-old then went after the woman but Gonzalez intervened to protect her and the two men fought before others at the bar separated them. Manzueta then left the bar.
Two weeks later, on Jan. 5, 2013, Manzueta returned to the bar specifically looking for Gonzalez, according to court records. He then approached the victim, pulled out a 9 mm handgun and shot him several times, striking him in the chest, back, abdomen, leg and arm.
Gonzalez died at the scene; a second man was also hit by the gunfire but survived from his injuries.
“[Manzueta] has now been sentenced for the senseless killing of a 27-year-old man in a bar,” Brown said in a statement. “The defendant had argued with the victim weeks earlier, but instead of letting it go, he returned to the establishment seeking revenge. [He] will remain behind bars for a lengthy term to protect society and to punish him for this brazen crime.”
