A Brooklyn man will spend decades in prison for murdering a man during a failed home invasion in Ozone Park over three years ago, prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Following a two-week trail, Freddie Salgado, 41, was convicted on April 30 of second-degree murder, first-degree burglary, criminal possession of a weapon and second-degree assault. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison on Aug. 6.
“Before being brutally gunned down, the victim in this case was helping his 5-year-old daughter get dressed for school. But moments later, the defendant and another individual forced their way into the Queens home, fought with the victim’s brother and then shot and killed the 50-year-old father,” said acting District Attorney John M. Ryan. “This kind of lawless gun violence will not be tolerated in our neighborhoods. A jury weighed all the evidence and convicted the defendant, who is going to prison for a very long time.”
According to trial testimony, at 7:56 a.m. on Jan. 11, 2016, Salgado and another unapprehended man entered the home of Frankie Nieves, 50, located on Peconic Street. While Frankie was upstairs getting his 5-year-old daughter ready for school, his brother Edgar fought off the attackers, who were armed with a handgun and a stun gun.
Edgar managed to get away, and as he was running toward the home’s entrance, he heard a single gunshot — Frankie had been shot once in the chest. Frankie was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he ultimately succumbed to the wound.
Video surveillance taken from outside the building showedSalgado and the other man arrive in a white BMW, enter the Nieves house and then leave the residence. The pair got into the same vehicle and left the scene. One of the two men left a red hat at the scene and DNA collected from that hat was a match for the Salgado’s DNA profile, which was on file in the New York State DNA Databank.
Salgado fled New York City and was apprehended in Miami in the same BMW on Jan. 18, 2016. The car was reported stolen and Salgado was arrested and charged in connection with the stolen vehicle. He was released on bail after giving police in Miami a fake name. However, detectives from the 106th Precinct tracked down Salgado with help from Federal Marshals and local police.
Salgado was extradited back to Queens for the murder charge. The BMW was also seized and a spot of blood that was a match to Frankie Nieves was discovered in the vehicle by the NYPD Crime Scene Unit.
