Peekskill Killer Who Shot A Father In Front Of His Kids Gets 30 Years

PEEKSKILL, NY — A Westchester man who gunned down his girlfriend's former lover learned his fate today.

Westchester County District Attorney Miriam Rocah announced today that the Peekskill man was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the fatal shooting of 53-year-old Ernest Wilson of Poughkeepsie.

"In this brazen act of gun violence this defendant left children traumatized and without a father," Rocah said. "Now that this defendant is removed from our streets and brought to justice, we hope the family of Ernest Wilson can begin to find closure and healing."

After pleading guilty on May 17, 40-year-old Reginald McClure, who has prior felony convictions, was sentenced to 25 years on the charge of first degree manslaughter and five years for each of the two counts of criminal possession of a weapon.

The five-year sentences for the gun charges will run concurrently to each other and consecutive to the 25-year sentence on the manslaughter charge.

At 7:32 p.m. on May 21, 2023, Wilson was dropping off his child with the child’s mother, McClure's girlfriend, at her Sherman Avenue home in Peekskill. Seeing McClure walking up the street, Wilson extended his hand to greet him, but McClure instead fired six rounds from a 9mm firearm, striking the victim twice.

The shooting was witnessed by Wilson's two children.

"My father was a wonderful man...and now I can never share another birthday with my birthday twin, I could never crack another joke with my father and...I can never watch our favorite Marvel movies again," one of the children said in a victim impact statement read in court. "You took the most valuable thing of my life...my father."

Wilson was rushed to Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, where he died as a result of his injuries on May 24, 2023.

McClure fled the scene but was later apprehended and arrested at a Yonkers hotel following an investigation by the Peekskill Police Department and the FBI’s Westchester Safe Streets Task Force. At the time of capture, he was illegally in possession of two loaded firearms.

The Westchester County Department of Public Safety, the Yonkers Police Department and the New York State Police assisted with the investigation.