Defendant Found Guilty of Second-Degree Murder
Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced a Yonkers man has been
sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the fatal shooting of a 23-year-old Bronx man.
District Attorney Clark said, “The defendant knew the victim and shot him execution-style
over a previous dispute, and will now spend many years in prison. This act of senseless gun
violence has destroyed the lives of two young men.”
District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Michael Canaj, 25, of 6 Ramsen Road, Yonkers,
N.Y., was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Martin
Marcus on March 22, 2019. The jury found the defendant guilty of second-degree Murder on
January 18, 2019.
According to the investigation, shortly after midnight on December 31, 2012 at 2324
Boston Road, the defendant shot Erion Mecani, 23, multiple times, causing his death. The
defendant and the victim had a disagreement two years prior to the shooting, when the defendant
stole the victim’s car and wrecked it while driving it. The defendant had promised to pay the
victim for the damages, but instead shot him. Mecani was found dead with two gunshot wounds
in the head in his father’s car about an hour after the incident.
District Attorney Clark thanked to Detective Steven Smith of Bronx Homicide and United
States Marshals Service Analyst John Heintz for their assistance in the case.
