BRONX MAN SENTENCED TO 25 YEARS IN PRISON FOR FATALLY SHOOTING A MAN AND FOR WOUNDING OF A BYSTANDER WHO LATER DIED

 

Defendant Also Sentenced for Vicious Stabbing of Inmate at Rikers Island

Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced that a Bronx man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree Manslaughter and first-degree Assault for a fatal shooting in 2021, and Attempted Murder of an inmate while at Rikers Island. 

District Attorney Clark said, “The defendant started a chain of events that caused two deaths. He and his accomplice chased their target down and killed him in an intersection, firing a hail of bullets at close range. Police officers pursued the suspects, and in the gunfire, an innocent passerby was wounded and later succumbed to his injuries. The defendant then stabbed an inmate in jail. He will spend many years in prison for his reprehensible acts of violence.” 

The defendant, Hassan Maxwell, 26, of East 171st , was sentenced on December 19, 2024 to 25 years in prison for first-degree Manslaughter, five years for first-degree Assault and five years for Attempted Murder second-degree by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Alvin Yearwood. The sentences are to run concurrently. Maxwell pleaded guilty to those charges on November 12, 2024. 

According to the investigation, on April 3, 2021, at approximately 6:20 p.m., Maxwell and a co-defendant, both armed with handguns, chased Gabriel Casso, 22, who was unarmed, into the intersection of East 166th Street and Findlay Avenue in the Morrisania section. They both fired multiple shots, striking Casso several times, killing him. Three NYPD Officers from the 44th Precinct conducting a traffic stop nearby observed the accomplice standing over the victim firing toward the victim’s head.

These officers then engaged Maxwell and the accomplice by firing their service weapons at them. During this time, other individuals shot toward the gunmen, who then fled down East 166th Street toward College Avenue, with guns drawn. Abdou Jallow, 67, who was walking in the vicinity, preparing to attend evening prayers at a local mosque, was struck by a bullet in his left arm, causing him to bleed profusely and sustain a serious physical injury. He was taken to Lincoln Hospital, where he died on January 9, 2022, of his injuries.

On June 6, 2024, while incarcerated at Rikers Island, Maxwell and another inmate approached inmate Christopher Gonzalez and without provocation, Maxwell stabbed him with a sharp object and the other inmate punched him. A Correction Officer stopped the attack. Gonzalez was treated for puncture wounds to his arm, back and upper torso at a local hospital.

District Attorney Clark thanked NYPD Detective Kevin Ruggeri from the Force Investigations Division for his assistance in the investigation.