FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, April 5, 2023
Brooklyn Man Sentenced to 16 Years in Prison
for Shooting and Wounding NYPD Detective
Defendant Pleaded Guilty to Attempted Murder in January
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a Bedford-Stuyvesant man has been sentenced to 16 years in prison following his guilty plea to second-degree attempted murder for opening fire on four New York City Police Officers in 2018. The defendant fired six shots at the officers and wounded one of them, a detective, in the leg.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “The six shots this defendant fired at officers as he fled could have killed them and highlights the risks our police partners take every day on the job. We will never tolerate violence against law enforcement in Brooklyn, and today’s sentence holds this defendant accountable for his deplorable crime.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Kelvin Stichel, 37, of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. He was sentenced today by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Justice Claudia Daniels-DePeyster to 16 years in prison and five years’ post-release supervision. The defendant pleaded guilty to second-degree attempted murder on January 26, 2023.
The District Attorney said that on July 7, 2018, at approximately 6:40 a.m., Detective Miguel Soto, a member of the NYPD’s Warrant Squad in Brooklyn North, and three other officers were driving an unmarked car on Fulton Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant when they saw the defendant walking on the sidewalk.
According to the evidence, the officers recognized the defendant from an investigation card for an alleged armed robbery. The defendant saw the officers making a U-Turn and fled the scene, turning onto Tompkins Avenue and then Decatur Street. The officers, who chased the defendant in the car and then on foot, identified themselves and ordered him to display his hands. The defendant then pulled out a .45-caliber handgun. The defendant fired six times at the officers, striking Detective Soto in the right leg. Officers returned fire and struck the defendant once in the left arm.
The defendant was later apprehended at 39 Kingston Street. The .45-caliber handgun used in the shooting was recovered from a trashcan in front of a nearby building.
Detective Soto, a decorated, seven-year-veteran of the NYPD, was taken to Kings County Hospital where he was treated and released.
The defendant was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Andrea Orlando, Deputy Chief of the District Attorney’s Red Zone Trial Bureau and Senior Assistant District Attorney Jessica Wishart, of the District Attorney’s Blue Zone Trial Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Robert J. Walsh, Chief of the District Attorney’s Grey Zone Trial Bureau and Assistant District Attorney Kin Ng, Chief of the Blue Zone.
#