Brooklyn subway shooter sentenced to 18 years

Victim Shot in Face in Unprovoked Attack on 3 Train at Saratoga Avenue

November 7, 2014 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Brooklyn D.A. Kenneth Thompson's office announced the sentencing of a subway shooter. Eagle file photo via YouTube screenshot

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A Crown Heights man has been sentenced to 18 years in prison following his conviction on second-degree attempted murder and other charges for shooting an unarmed man, who was a complete stranger, in the face on a 3 train, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle has learned.

On Sept. 22, a jury convicted defendant Dequan Hall, of Crown Heights, of second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault and two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

Hall, 30, was sentenced Thursday to a determinate prison term by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun.

According to trial testimony, in January 2013, the victim and a friend boarded a 3 train at the Junius Avenue subway station and sat opposite each other. At the next station, which was Rockaway Avenue, Hall, who was wearing a distinctive green bubble jacket and walking with a burgundy cane and four other males, entered the subway car.

Hall then pulled a black gun from his waistband, cocked it back and pointed the gun right at the victim’s head. The victim slapped the gun away, but the defendant put it back to his head. The victim again slapped the gun away and Hall pointed it right at his face so he was looking down the barrel. Hall then demanded that the victim get off the train, but he feared he would be shot so he remained on the train and pushed the gun out of his face. Hall put the gun back up, shot the victim just before the doors opened at the Saratoga Avenue station and then fled.

District Attorney Kenneth Thompson said, “The victim suffered debilitating injuries after the defendant shot him in his face and could easily have been killed. The defendant will now have 18 long years in prison to think about this senseless act of violence.”

The victim was shot in the right cheek, and the bullet exited his face on the left side by his neck. His jaw was fractured in multiple places and was wired shut for a month. He now has a permanent metal plate in his jaw. He suffered permanent injuries to his throat and permanent nerve damage to the right side of his face.

Hall was arrested the following day by police officers who were alerted to the incident and remembered seeing the defendant in his distinctive coat and traced back his movements until they were able to identify him.

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-Information from the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office