Mar. 22, 2023 By Bill Parry
A South Jamaica man was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the fatal shooting of an Elmont, Long Island, man in 2021, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced on March 22.
Edson Giron Figueroa, 21, of 108th Avenue, had pleaded guilty last month to manslaughter in the second degree before Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder.
According to the charges, at around 2:40 a.m. on July 24, 2021, Giron Figueroa walked to a commercial building on 150th Street near 105th Avenue in Jamaica, looking to rob a prostitute at gunpoint. According to the criminal complaint, Giron Figueroa sat on some concrete blocks and observed a man dressed in women’s clothing with a beard and a wig. Giron Figueroa approached the victim Albert Serrato from behind, pointed the gun at him and said, “Give me the money.”
When Serrato turned around, the defendant allegedly fired the gun several times. According to the charges, Giron Figueroa only remembered pulling the trigger once, but it went off multiple times. He didn’t take anything because it happened so fast, and after he saw the man dressed in women’s clothes fall to the ground, he ran away, according to the complaint.
Giron Figueroa later asked a friend to dispose of the gun. EMS responded to the crime scene and transported Serrato to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
“This is a case of yet another young person’s life cut short by gun violence,” Katz said. “We will continue to fight against illegal guns with everything we have, on the streets and in the courts.”
Justice Holder sentenced Giron Figueroa to 20 years in prison, to be followed by five years of post-release supervision.