FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, February 6, 2026
East New York Woman Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison for
Stabbing Roommate and Pistol Whipping her Daughter
Defendant Also Fired Three Shots in Apartment and Stabbed Victim’s Dog
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a Brooklyn woman has been sentenced to 15 years in prison following her guilty plea to attempted murder and criminal use of a firearm for stabbing her roommate in the neck and pistol whipping the victim’s daughter across her forehead.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “Brooklyn is safer with this defendant behind bars. Her brazen and unprovoked violence could have easily cost an innocent life, and today’s sentence ensures she can no longer endanger our community. I am grateful to our prosecutors and the NYPD for their outstanding work on this case.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Iescha Gowdy, 34, of East New York, Brooklyn. She was sentenced today by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Rhonda Tomlinson to 15 years in prison and five years of post-release supervision. The defendant pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree attempted murder and one count of first-degree criminal use of a firearm on January 6, 2026.
The District Attorney said that, according to the evidence, on January 1, 2024, at approximately 6:40 a.m., at 1004 Hegeman Avenue, a 57-year-old woman and her 39-year-old daughter and a friend were in the living room of the 57-year-old’s apartment where she lived with her roommate of five months, the defendant. The defendant came out of her bedroom into the living room holding a gun and threatened to shoot everyone in the apartment. She then fired three shots, striking no one.
The 57-year-old’s daughter ran from the apartment down a stairwell towards the second-floor landing and was followed by the defendant, according to the evidence, who pistol-whipped her on the forehead. The two began fighting, and the 57-year-old came down the stairs and was able to get the gun out of the defendant’s hand. The defendant went back up to the apartment and the victims remained on the landing and were assisted by a neighbor.
Approximately 10 minutes later, according to the evidence, the defendant returned holding a knife in each hand, she then lunged at the 57-year-old and stabbed her once in the neck. The defendant continued down the stairs and the victim followed her and saw the defendant pick up the victim’s dog (who had gotten out through the open apartment door). The defendant stabbed the dog once in the abdomen and left the building. Both the 57-year-old and the dog underwent treatment for their stab wounds.
The defendant was arrested the next day following an investigation.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Amelia Digirolamo, of the District Attorney’s Red Zone Trial Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Karla Watson, Bureau Chief.
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