Defendant Pleaded Guilty to First-Degree Manslaughter
Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a Bronx man has been sentenced to 18 years in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree Manslaughter in a 2018 shooting that left his target dead and two bystanders wounded.
District Attorney Clark said, “The defendant got out of a vehicle and fired multiple shots, striking a 26-year-old man and killing him. Two innocent bystanders, a teen and a 29-year-old man, were also shot. The defendant will now go to prison for the needless gun violence that occurred that day.”
District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Joseph Cruz, 23, last of 1095 Prospect Avenue, was sentenced today to 18 years in prison and five years’ post-release supervision by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Ralph Fabrizio. The defendant pleaded guilty to first-degree Manslaughter on June 17, 2021.
According to the investigation, on May 1, 2018 at approximately 10:00 p.m., in front of 971 Prospect Avenue, the defendant got out of a vehicle and fired at least eight shots in the direction of Matthew Gonzalez, 26. Gonzalez was shot twice in the back and once in the arm. A man, who was with a child in a stroller about 30 feet away, was hit in his calf, and a 17-year-old boy was struck in the neck and torso. Gonzalez was taken to Lincoln Hospital and died less than an hour after arrival. The two bystanders were taken to nearby hospitals and survived. The defendant fled to Pennsylvania after the incident and was arrested on August 7, 2018. The cause of the shooting may have been gang-related.
District Attorney Clark thanked NYPD Detective Anthony Batista of the 42nd Precinct and NYPD Detective Keith Walker (retired) of Bronx Homicide for their assistance in the investigation.
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