FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, May 5, 2023
Brooklyn Man Sentenced to 25 Years to Life in Prison for Murder of Former Girlfriend and Attempted Murder of Her Mother
Victim Was Shot Five Times as She Walked Near Her Home with Her Mother and Friend
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a Brooklyn man has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for shooting to death his former girlfriend, with whom he shared two children.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “This defendant’s calculated, cold-blooded murder cut short Sade Sanchez’s life and robbed her family and friends of a beloved mother, daughter, and friend. With today’s substantial prison sentence, this defendant will no longer be a threat to anyone else in our community.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Gabriel Rivera, 30, of Ridgewood, Queens. He was sentenced today by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Rhonda Tomlinson to 25 years to life in prison. The defendant pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, second-degree attempted murder, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, third-degree attempted assault, and first-degree stalking on March 29, 2023.
The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, on approximately September 1, 2018, Sade Sanchez, 24, ended a nine-year relationship with the defendant, with whom she shared two children. Thereafter, he called and texted her repeatedly and showed up outside of her Bushwick home stalking her.
Furthermore, according to the investigation, on October 6, 2018, the defendant showed up outside of the victim’s home, located on Menahan Street, and saw a 21-year-old male friend of the victim hanging out in front of the house. The defendant punched the man three times in the head and told him that no one could be with his woman.
Finally, according to the investigation, on October 7, 2018, the victim was walking on Menahan Street with her 46-year-old mother and the same friend who was punched by the defendant a day earlier, when the defendant approached from behind a car, pulled out a firearm and shot Ms. Sanchez five times. After she fell to the ground, he continued to fire at her. He then pointed the gun in her mother’s face and pulled the trigger, but the gun did not fire.
The defendant fled the scene and was arrested the following day.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Sabeeha Madni, First Deputy Chief of the School Advocacy and Juvenile Crimes Bureau (formerly of the District Attorney’s Domestic Violence Bureau), under the supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney Michelle Kaminsky, Chief of the District Attorney’s Gender-Based Violence Division.
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