A Jamaica resident who was hiding out in Pennsylvania after fatally shooting two people at Fourth of July house party earlier this year was charged with nine counts of murder, assault and weapons charges.
Victor Ocasio, 28, drove by a house on 170th Street at approximately 3:38 a.m. on July 5 and fired a semi-automatic weapon at a crowd of at least five adults and three children.
According to Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown, Jasmine Quattlebaum, 27, was fatally struck once in the head, Herman Mullings, 28, was hit three times in the back and a 32-year-old man was struck in the right elbow.
Mullings and the 32-year-old man were transported to a hospital, where Mullings was pronounced dead. The other man was treated for severe nerve and tissue damage, according to the criminal complaint. Mullings left behind two daughters, who are 6 and 3 years old.
Ocasio hid out in Pennsylvania and was apprehended in the state earlier this month. He waived extradition and was arraigned in a Queens court on Nov. 16. Ocasio was charged with one count of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder, one count of second-degree attempted murder, two counts of first-degree assault, two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and one count of first-degree reckless endangerment.
“A festive summer evening was marred by the senseless shooting deaths of two innocent young individuals – a man and a mother of two – and the wounding of a second man who suffered severe nerve and tissue damage,” Brown said. “On the run since this heinous act, the alleged perpetrator has now been captured, returned to New York and is facing the possibility of life behind bars without the possibility of parole.”
Ocasio faces life in prison without the possibility of parole. He was ordered held without bail and will have to return to court on Nov. 29.
