File Photo
Tyquan Long was nabbed in February 2016 in Sacramento, Calif., after fleeing his residence (pictured) on Beach 32nd Street in Far Rockaway following the Jan. 27, 2016 incident.
By Forum Staff
Queens District AttorneyRichard A. Brown announced last week, that a 31-year-old Far Rockaway man has been sentenced to 45 years to life in prison by Queens Supreme Court Justice John Latella, who presided at trial.A jury convicted Long of murder, attempted murder and other charges in the shooting death of the defendant’s estranged girlfriend and the wounding of a neighbor in January 2016.
The defendant, Tyquan Long, 31, who fled the state to avoid capture, was apprehended a month after the shooting in Sacramento, California, and was extradited to Queens County.
“The was a sad and terrifying case. The victim simply wanted to be left alone and to be free of her entanglement with the defendant. And for this, she was shot and killed in her home by someone who at one time cared for her. This defendant’s brutality did not end there. The senseless violence continued when he bumped into a neighbor and fired several times at her. She survived the attack. The Court has now rightly sentenced the defendant to spend the rest of his life in prison,” said DA Brown.
Earlierthis month, a juryfound Long guilty of second-degreemurder, second-degree attempted murder, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, second-degree assault, aggravated criminal contempt, second-degree attempted assault and petit larceny.
Trial testimony and video surveillance showed the defendant going into 36-year-old Joann Gravette’s Beach 34thStreet apartment on the morning of January 27, 2016, and then exiting several minutes later carrying what appeared to be a gun.
The defendant and Ms. Gravette had been in a relationship, but the victim had an active order of protection against Long from contacting her. Just 10 days before her death, the woman asked the defendant to leave her alone. The defendant’s response was “I’d rather be dead or make peace with God in jail.”
After Long left the victim’s apartment, he was seen on video surveillance confronting a 51-year-old female neighbor in the lobby of the apartment building. He told the neighbor that her son – whom he knew – was “playing games” and then shot at the woman three times. A bullet sliced through her finger, but she was able to run from the lobby and has recovered from her injuries. Someone else in the building heard sounds coming from Ms. Gravette’s apartment followed by a loud commotion and then a final “boom” at approximately 10:50 a.m. that day. When police responded to the scene, they found Ms. Gravette dead, face down on the floor of the apartment with multiple gunshot wounds.
