Queens man sentenced for Far Rockaway point-blank shooting
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Far Rockaway man Tyrell Dennis was sentenced on Monday for the murder of Eric Thomas in the summer of 2020, the Queens District Attorney said. Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz
By Ryan Schwach
A Queens man was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison this week for the murder of another man in Far Rockaway three and a half years ago, a sentence the victim’s widow says her husband’s killer “deserves.”
On Monday, 35-year-old Tyrell Dennis was sentenced at Queens Criminal Court by Supreme Court Justice Michael Aloise for the Aug. 1, 2020 murder of Eric Thomas, a musician who is remembered by his wife as a good man who cared for his community.
According to the charges and trial testimony, at around 6:30 a.m., Dennis entered the apartment building at 22-27 Dix Ave. in Far Rockaway, known locally as “Pinkfern.”
Dennis approached a woman who was in the mailroom and pointed a gun at her head. He pushed her through a doorway and questioned her about the location of certain individuals.
Dennis then proceeded to the first floor of the building where 35-year-old Thomas lived. A short time later, a different man left Thomas’ apartment leaving the door open.
Thomas was about to leave the apartment when Dennis approached him, pulled a gun from his waistband, pointed it at Thomas and shot him once in the chest. Dennis then fled the building.
Thomas was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
A few months later in November of 2020, Dennis was pulled over by Pennsylvania state troopers at 1 a.m. near the town of Chambersburg for having his headlights and taillights off, the Daily News reported.
He gave the officer an Oregon driver’s license with someone else's name on it. He admitted to drinking and failing sobriety tests, but then leaped out of his car and ran off.
The tabloid reported that he looped back to his Hyundai Sonata and tried to drive off, but lost control and went off the road.
He was confronted by an officer who he punched and kneed before he was ultimately arrested.
Once it was determined he was wanted for Thomas’ murder, he was extradited back to New York in June of 2021 and subsequently charged with murder in the second degree, two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and menacing in the second degree.
He was convicted of the charges in June 2023.
“Senseless gun violence has tragically cut short too many lives including that of this victim,” said District Attorney Melinda Katz. “The defendant is being held accountable for his brutal actions and we will not let up in our efforts to remove illegal weapons from our streets.”
At the time of his murder, Thomas’ father Herbert Thomas said his son had a “heart of gold.”
“What happened to him, he didn’t deserve,” he said outside his Queens home.
His father said that Thomas volunteered at the church as a kid, assisting at food drives and the neighborhood soup kitchen.
“He was always helpful, would do anything for anyone,” Herbert Thomas said. “I tried to teach them how to give, he was that kind of person.”
Eric Thomas, who was killed by Dennis on Aug. 1, 2020 on Dix Avenue in Far Rockaway. Courtesy of Twuana Noelle Thomas
His widowed wife, Twuana Noelle Thomas, told the Daily News that Thomas was an outcast who tried to help the community with his hip-hop music, which he did under the name “Born Eternal.”
Now, more than three years after her husband’s killing, Noelle Thomas is remembering the man she called her best friend.
“His loss meant a great deal to me,” she said in her victim impact statement she provided to the Eagle. “He was my therapist, best friend and we defended each other. We stayed together no matter how difficult it was.”
“With him I learned patience and how to think,” she added.
She remembered Thomas for trying to help people in his community through aid and music.
“Eric was a peacemaker, he was sentimental,” she told the Eagle over the phone on Tuesday. “Eric really tried to make a difference in the community.”
As for the man who was sentenced for her husband’s killing, she says he deserves it.
“He took a life he deserves to miss out on life for taking a life,” she said.
