Long Island City Man Sentenced To 17 Years For 2018 Killing

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — A Long Island City man has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for the 2018 shooting of a man in the Ravenswood Houses, officials announced Tuesday.

Shahid Burton, 21, had pleaded guilty to manslaughter last fall in connection with the Aug. 26, 2018 shooting of 29-year-old Jelan Moreira.

Around 5:30 a.m. that morning, Moreira was walking through a courtyard in the public housing complex, which runs from 34th and 36th avenues between 12th and 24th streets. Surveillance footage showed Burton, along with another person who has not been arrested, approach Moreira from behind and shoot him multiple times in the torso, prosecutors said.

Burton, who lived at the Queensbridge Houses, was not arrested until March 2019, when a transit officer saw him jumping a turnstile at the Sutphin Boulevard-Archer Avenue station in Jamaica, according to authorities.

After stopping Burton at the scene, the officer learned he was a suspect in Moreira's killing months prior.

Moreira was reportedly a construction worker, who lived at Ravenswood with his family, including his infant daughter and three-year-old son.

"The sentencing of this defendant does not make up for the senseless loss of life due to gun violence, but it is our hope that the family can find some solace in the resolution of this case and the punishment imposed by the Court," District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement.