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Hawkins shot and killed the victim inside the defunct Edge Lounge in Jamaica.
By Forum Staff
A 35-year-old Queens man has been sentenced to 22 years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter in the June 2014 shooting death of an individual inside a club in Jamaica, Queens.
“The defendant has now been sentenced for the senseless shooting of a 37-year-old man in a Queens bar. Gun violence has no place in a civilized society,” DA Brown said. “The defendant took a life and for that he will be incarcerated for a lengthy period of time.”
Fruitquana Hawkins, 35, of 173 Street in rd the Jamaica pleaded guilty last month to first-degree manslaughter before Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth C. Holder, who sentenced the defendant to 22 years in prison to be followed by five years’ post release supervision.
Court records show that around 2 a.m. on June 14, 2014, the defendant was inside the Edge Lounge on Merrick Boulevard with a .40 caliber semiautomatic pistol. He shot the victim, 37-year-old Timothy Tripp, multiple times in the head, shoulder, chest and abdomen. The pair got into a dispute when Hawkins grabbed a napkin from Tripp’s table. The victim, who owned a clothing store and coached youth football, died at the scene.
