Far Rockaway resident Waturi Johnson was sentenced Friday to 24 years to life in prison for the fatal shooting of Uriah Richardson, a father of three who was gunned down in broad daylight in front of the Mott Avenue A train station 2021. The two men did not know each other.
Johnson, 54, of Beach 30th Street, was convicted of murder in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon charges by a jury in Queens Supreme Court in June following a two-week trial reaching the guilty verdict after deliberating for approximately four hours.
According to the charges and trial testimony, on Oct. 4, 2021, at around 1 p.m., Johnson was seen on video surveillance approaching 29-year-old Uriah Richardson, who was heading home from his job as a home health aide and standing at a taxi stand near the Mott Avenue station in Far Rockaway. As they neared one another, Richardson had his right hand in his pants pocket. Johnson pulled out a handgun, and Richardson took his hand out of the pocket with his fist clenched around something. Johnson fired two shots at Richardson, striking him in the leg and chest. The victim crossed Mott Avenue where he collapsed.
A folded box cutter was found on the ground where Richardson fell. The gunshot wound to his chest pierced Richardson’s trachea, aorta and lung. The defendant ran from the crime scene.
EMS responded to the location and rushed Richardson to St. John’s Episcopal Hospital in Far Rockaway, where he was pronounced dead. Johnson fled New York and was tracked down in Pennsylvania a month after the fatal shooting and taken into custody. He was extradited back to Queens.
“This defendant took out a gun on a public street in broad daylight and used it to end the life of a stranger, a young father of three,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. “He then fled to another state where he was apprehended. With today’s sentence, we have achieved justice for the victim and his loved ones.”
Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder sentenced Johnson to 24 years to life in prison on the murder charge and 15 years for each weapon possession charge, to be served concurrently.
