Shooter Sentenced For East Harlem Double Murder, Prosecutors Say

EAST HARLEM, NY — A man is facing life in prison for a 2007 double murder in East Harlem, the Manhattan district attorney's office announced.

Abraham Cucuta, 34, was sentenced Tuesday for the murders of 27-year-old Manuel Sabater and 18-year-old Joshua Agard, prosecutors said. The gunman was convicted by a New York State Supreme Court jury of two counts of first-degree murder in December.

The shootings occurred on June 7, 2007 when members of the rival "Bloods" and "Crips" gang met in a courtyard of the East River Houses public housing development to play dice, prosecutors said. Cucuta, a member of the Bloods, left the dice game only to return later with a gun, prosecutors said.

In an attempt to kill members of the Crips, Cucuta fatally shot Bloods member Sabater before turning his gun on Agard, prosecutors said. Cucuta shot Agardin the head, causing him to fall to the ground, and then shot the man five more times, prosecutors said.

"Abraham Cucuta murdered two young men during a game of dice in a brazen act of gun violence intended to assert his gang’s territory," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., said in a statement. "These shootings tragically ended the lives of two young men and terrified residents and neighbors of the East River housing complex. I hope this conviction and sentence bring some closure to the victims’ families and the East Harlem community."

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