File Photo
Sanchez-Ortiz shot a rival gang member inside the Pasiones club in Corona last December.
By Forum Staff
A 22-year-old purported member of the Los Traviesos street gang has been sentenced to nine years in prison after pleading guilty last month to trying to kill a rival gang member inside a Corona, Queens, nightclub in December 2015.
“This was a senseless shooting in a club occupied by numerous people. It is fortunate that the individual shot and wounded survived – and that no one else was injured. The defendant will be incarcerated for a lengthy period of time as punishment for his crime, as well as to keep society safe,” said District Attorney Richard Brown.
The defendant is identified as Jose Sanchez-Ortiz, 22, of Brooklyn. He has been held in jail in lieu of $500,000 bail since his March 2016 arraignment, pleaded guilty in August to second-degree attempted murder.
According to the charges, the defendant was inside the Pasiones club on 103 Street in Corona on the evening of December 14, 2015, when he shot at 21- year-old Jose Apolinar, a reputed member of the Los Ninos Malos street gang. The victim was struck in the left arm and recovered after undergoing surgery at a local Queens hospital for a severed artery in the arm.
Sanchez-Ortiz has been sentenced to nine years in prison to be followed by five years’ post release supervision.
