Gunman Sentenced 25 Years In Prison For Killing Bed-Stuy Man

BED-STUY, NY — Darrien Weekes, 26, of Bushwick, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison and five years’ post release supervision for fatally shooting a man in Bed-Stuy in 2019, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said on Thursday.

Weekes was sentenced by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Heidi Cesare following his guilty plea to first-degree manslaughter on April 17.

“Today’s sentence ensures that this defendant will spend many years behind bars for a senseless and deadly act of gun violence. My thoughts are with Malik Russell’s loved ones as they continue to grieve his loss,” Gonzalez said on Thursday.

Gonzalez said the fatal incident happened on June 1, 2019, when Malik Russell, 29, was walking alone in Bed-Stuy just before 4 a.m.

According to the District Attorney, who reviewed the video surveillance footage, Russell encountered Weekes and co-defendant Oliver Kinard, 27, and stopped to talk.

As the three men were talking on the sidewalk, the defendant suddenly took out a gun and fired three times at the victim, hitting him once in the upper chest and chasing him into the street in front of 519 Chauncey Street.

Russell was taken to Interfaith Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

Kinard pleaded guilty to third-degree hindering prosecution on September 26, 2023, and was sentenced to a conditional discharge.