‘Because I’m an idiot:’ Stray shooter sentenced for accidentally wounding LIC teacher
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Snooze Brown was in the middle of a heated fight with his girlfriend in Long Island City when he pulled out a gun and shot it multiple times, “accidentally” striking a teacher. Inset photo via the NYPD. Background photo via Google Maps.
By Jonathan Sperling
An upstate New York man who fired a gun wildly on a Long Island City street — wounding a school teacher — was handed an 11-year prison sentence on Tuesday, according to Acting Queens District Attorney John Ryan.
Snooze Brown was in the middle of a heated fight with his girlfriend on Jan. 26, 2018, which led him to pull an illegal 9mm gun and “accidentally” fire it, striking a 28-year-old teacher as she walked out of the 21st Street–Queensbridge subway station in LIC. The victim heard a loud pop and immediately felt abdominal pain; when she looked down, she saw small holes in her jacket and shirt and blood seeping from her abdominal area.
Brown plead guilty on May 13, 2019, to second-degree attempted murder, second-degree assault and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon before Justice John Latella.
Ryan called Latella’s sentence, “more than justified” in a statement, and noted that the shooting was “a perfect example of just how dangerous illegal guns can be and how innocent people can at any time become a victim of senseless violence.”
Brown had been arguing with his girlfriend inside her LIC apartment around 7 a.m. during which he repeatedly punch her in the face. Locking herself in the bathroom, she called her mother on the phone for help as Brown threatened to shoot through the door.
Brown’s girlfriend managed to escape out of the apartment with Brown chasing her. When he caught up to her near 41st Avenue and 10th Street he again began arguing with her and pushed her into the middle of the intersection.
When his girlfriend’s mother and fiancé drove up to the scene, Brown threw a bag at the car, pulled out a gun and began firing several shots at her. It was at that point that the teacher was struck, two blocks away.
Brown was eventually arrested in Nassau County, near the Far Rockaway border. In statements to police, Brown alleged that “the car [containing his girlfriend’s mother and fiancé] tried to run me over. The gun I got locked up with today is going to match the shell casings from the shooting. I pulled the gun out of my waistband and the gun went off. It was an accident. I bought the gun from a crackhead in August. If the gun comes back to other things before August, it wasn’t me. I’ll take five years for this.”
When asked by police how many times he shot the gun during the shooting, Brown replied, “Well, how many shell casings did you find?” When asked why he held onto the gun after the shooting, Brown stated, in sum and substance, “Because I’m an idiot.”
He later apologized for shooting the bystander.
