More than two years after a Long Island City man was fatally shot on Staten Island, the Brooklyn man accused of pulling the trigger on him was convicted on murder charges.
Eduardo Morales, 25, was found guilty last week of second-degree murder for the Jan. 20, 2015 killing of Marcos Huallpa, 46, of Long Island City, according to Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown.
The Staten Island Advance reported that Huallpa was shot to death while allegedly dropping off a prostitute that evening in front of a home on Sand Lane in the Arrochar section of Staten Island at 10:15 p.m. on Jan. 20, 2015. It was the borough’s first homicide of the year.
“In rendering its verdict, the jury found [Morales] guilty of murder for walking up to a parked vehicle late at night and firing three shots at the vehicle’s occupant, who had nowhere to run,” Brown said in a statement on Friday, Feb. 10, announcing the conviction. “As a result of his actions that night, the defendant now faces the prospect of being locked away for the rest of his life.”
Huallpa was shot at least twice and died of his injuries at a Staten Island hospital.
Police were able to track down Morales three days later in Queens after recovering his fingerprint on a getaway vehicle. He was also found in possession of the murder weapon, a .380-caliber Bersa Thunder.
Though the deadly shooting took place outside of Queens, Brown was appointed as a special prosecutor to the case after Morales’ original defense attorney was named to the Richmond County District Attorney’s office. The case was tried in Staten Island before a jury of borough residents.
