A Far Rockaway man has been indicted by a grand jury for murder in the fatal shooting of another Far Rockaway man last summer, according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.
Tyrell Dennis, 31, of Redfern Avenue, was arraigned before Queens Supreme Court Justice Evelyn Braun on a four-count indictment in the shooting death of 35-year-old Eric Thomas in his Far Rockaway home last summer.
Dennis was charged with murder in the second degree, weapons possession and menacing charges, and ordered held without bail.
According to the charges, on August 1, 2020, around 6:30 a.m. Dennis approached Thomas, who was in the first-floor hallway of his apartment on Dix Avenue near Pinson Avenue.
Thomas was speaking with another person when Dennis allegedly fired a bullet into the victim’s chest and then fled the scene, according to Katz.
EMS responded and transported Thomas to St. John’s Episcopal Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Dennis allegedly fled to Pennsylvania where he was arrested by NYPD investigators on Tuesday, June 22 and brought back to the borough, according to the district attorney.
“The victim, a young father of two, was having a conversation in the hallway of his apartment building when the defendant allegedly approached him and shot him in the chest,” Katz said. “The accused then fled the state in the hope of evading justice but has been brought back to Queens to face the consequences of this senseless gun violence.”
Justice Braun ordered Dennis to return to court on August 10.
If convicted, Dennis faces up to 25 years-to-life in prison.
