BRONX MAN SENTENCED TO 21 YEARS IN PRISON FOR FATALLY SHOOTING MAN DURING ROBBERY; SLASHING NYC DOC OFFICER WHILE IN RIKERS ISLAND

  Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a Bronx man has been sentenced to 21 years in prison for fatally shooting a 40-year-old man in 2016, and for a separate case involving an assault on a Department of Correction Officer on Rikers Island in 2018. 

 District Attorney Clark said, “The defendant shot and killed the victim, who leaves behind a 6-year-old-daughter. The defendant continued to commit violence while he was held on Rikers Island by slashing a Department of Correction Officer who was trying to protect him during a fight among prisoners.” 

 District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Elijah Moody, 24, of 1595 Odell Street, was sentenced today by Bronx Supreme Court Justice James McCarty to 21 years in prison and five years post-release supervision for first-degree Manslaughter. He was sentenced to three and a half years in prison and three years post-release supervision for Attempted Assault in the first-degree. Both sentences will run concurrently. The defendant pleaded guilty to the charges on January 8, 2019 before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Barry E. Warhit.

 According to the investigation, on August 3, 2016, in front of 2214 Glebe Avenue, the defendant shot Vivian Connell, 40, causing his death. Prior to the shooting, the victim had gone to buy a money order to pay his rent, but was unable to purchase it because he did not have identification. Connell then went to a bodega. Moody, in concert with other defendants, followed Connell and pulled a gun on him. The victim ran away and was shot in the back. As he lay wounded, Moody and his accomplices stole Connell’s rent money from his pockets. Connell was taken to Jacobi Medical Center and died shortly after. Moody was arrested several days later.

  The cases against the other defendants are still pending.

  According to the investigation, on July 13, 2018, while detained at the Anna M. Kross Center on Rikers Island, Moody slashed a Department of Correction Officer on the left side of his face with a sharp object. The victim was trying to remove Moody from the area after a fight broke out among prisoners, to keep him safe.

 District Attorney Clark thanked NYPD Detective Jose Ortiz of the 45th Precinct, Bronx Homicide Detectives Earnest Dorvil and Christine Reyes, and Investigators Scott Frank and Anthony Marano of DOC Correction Intelligence for their assistance in the investigation.