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Jackson and his partner in crime eventually fled Al Mini Market in Valley Stream empty-handed.
By Forum Staff
A Queens Village man has been sentenced to 30 years and five months in prison for murdering an employee of a Long Island convenience store during a robbery, federal prosecutors announced on Monday.
Jermaine Jackson, 25, pleaded guilty to the charge in December 2017.
According to federal officials, on Dec. 16, 2016, Jackson and a co-conspirator entered the Al Mini Market in Valley Stream wearing a mask over the lower portion of his face and brandishing a semi-automatic handgun. Jackson held the store’s employees at gunpoint while his cohort attempted to steal money from the cash register. Edwin Lopez, one of those employees, grabbed a bottle and resisted the robbery, at which point Jackson shot him once. Jackson then attempted to leave the store but Lopez chased him. Jackson turned around and shot Lopez several more times, killing him. Jackson and his partner fled the establishment empty-handed, prosecutors noted.
“The actions of Mr. Jackson brought an unknowable grief to the Lopez family that will be felt for years to come,” said U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Special Agent-in-Charge Ashan Benedict. “Today’s sentence provides some semblance of closure to a family that never deserved to be touched by this senseless violence. May Mr. Jackson spend every minute of his sentence pondering his grievous actions and the toll they took on an innocent family.”
Jackson’s prison sentence is to be followed by five years’ supervised release, U.S. District Court Judge Sandra Feuerstein said.
