Shawn Peace was sentenced last week to 110 years in prison for attempted murder, carjackings, and a series of armed robberies in Queens, the district attorney said. Photo courtesy NYPD
A North Carolina man was sentenced to 110 years in prison last week for pumping bullets into a livery cab driver in South Ozone Park and targeting fast food restaurants and car services during a six-month robbery spree in 2010, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.
Shawn Peace, 26, a North Carolina resident originally from Queens’ Jamaica neighborhood, was found guilty in February of attempted murder, assault, robbery, and criminal possession of a weapon following a three-week jury trial before Queens County Supreme Court Justice Gregory Lasak.
“Having committed a series of violent felonies, including the attempted murder of a livery cab driver and the shooting of a fast food restaurant employee, during a string of armed robberies, the defendant has proven himself to be a menace to society,” Brown said last Thursday in a prepared statement. “With today’s sentence, the public can rest assured that the defendant will no longer be a threat, as he will be spending the rest of his life behind bars.”
Peace had been held in jail in lieu of bail since his arrest in January 2011. According to trial testimony, Trevor Bell, a livery cab driver employed by Big D’s Royal Cab Service, located in Jamaica, picked up Peace on Dec. 3, 2010 after he walked up to the cab service’s office at approximately 8:50 p.m. and requested to be taken to 117-60 122 St., an address situated on a dead-end street in South Ozone Park.
Once the two men were at the location, a struggle ensued as they sat in the front of the cab, and Peace shot Bell multiple times in the neck and limbs before fleeing, the DA said.
Shortly thereafter, police responded to a 911 call on the corner of 122nd Street and Sutter Avenue in South Ozone Park and found Bell slumped in the driver’s seat of the cab with four gunshot wounds – one to the right hand, one to the neck, one to the left left, and one to the right leg, the district attorney said.
Bell was rushed to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, and to this day the DA said he still suffers from the effects of two strokes that occurred when the bullet was removed from his neck.
The shooting followed five robberies in 2010, all of which Peace was convicted of, Brown said.
The first in the robbery spree took place at a McDonald’s at 256-01 Union Tpke. on July 15, 2010. That August, he hit a Wendy’s at 222-06 Northern Blvd., as well as a Popeye’s Fried Chicken at 245-01 Francis Lewis Blvd. At the Popeye’s, a store employee was shot in the hand while trying to apprehend Peace, the DA said.
The final two robberies occurred in November 2010 at a Burger King at 92-02 Atlantic Ave. and a McDonald’s at 166-06 Rockaway Blvd., according to Brown.
