Victim, Who Had Just Celebrated His Son’s Birthday, Was Struck 17 Times
A Gravesend man has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for fatally shooting a 30-year-old father who had been celebrating his son’s third birthday at a Brooklyn park where a community event to combat gun violence was taking place.
District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said, “This was a completely brazen and senseless murder of an innocent man. That it took place during an event meant to honor victims of gun violence and deter further fatalities is heartbreaking. In Brooklyn, we are committed to ending the cycle of gun violence that is destroying too many young lives and leaving families devastated.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Raheem Dunaway, 36, of Gravesend, Brooklyn. He was sentenced today to 25 years to life in prison by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Jill Konvisor. The defendant was convicted of second-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon last month following a jury trial.
The District Attorney said that, according to the evidence, on August 21, 2016, at approximately 1:30 a.m., the defendant shot Daquan Spencer, 30, who was inside Scarangella Park on Stillwell Avenue, near the New York City Housing Authority’s Marlboro Houses, in Gravesend, Brooklyn.
The community was hosting an inaugural event in the park to combat gun violence and memorialize the lives of six young men who died of gun violence. The victim was at the park after celebrating his son’s birthday.
The evidence showed that the defendant was picking arguments and confronting people for no apparent reason prior to approaching the victim, and without any reason or provocation, firing at him 20 times, striking him 17 times in the head, neck, back, chest, stomach, legs and buttocks. The defendant continued shooting as the victim fell on his knees and attempted to crawl away.
Following the shooting, the defendant walked to a waiting vehicle parked in the street and left the scene, according to trial testimony. The defendant was arrested approximately two and a half months later in Loris, South Carolina, on November 10, 2016. After his extradition to New York, he was identified as the shooter at a police lineup and from witness statements, according to trial testimony.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Chow Yun Xie, of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau, and Assistant District Attorney Aaron Fishkin, of the District Attorney’s Green Zone Trial Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Timothy Gough, Homicide Bureau Chief.
