A Ridgewood man was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison on May 5 for killing his former girlfriend, who was the mother of his two children, during a murderous rampage in Bushwick, Brooklyn, in 2018.
Gabriel Rivera, 30, of Linden Street, pleaded guilty in March to second-degree murder, second-degree attempted murder, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, third-degree attempted assault, and first-degree stalking in the fatal shooting of Sanchez and the attempted murder of her mother.
According to Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, the investigation determined that on Sept. 1, 2018, Sade Sanchez, who was 24 at the time, ended a nine-year relationship with Rivera, who proceeded to call and text her incessantly and showed up outside her Bushwick home stalking her. On Oct. 6, 2018, Rivera showed up outside her Menahan Street home and saw a 21-year-old friend of the victim hanging out in front of the house. Rivera walked up to the man, slugged him three times in the head and told him that no one could be with his woman.
The following day, on Oct. 7, 2018, Sanchez was walking along Menahan Street near St. Nicholas Avenue with her 46-year-old mother and the same friend that Rivera punched out the day before. Rivera suddenly appeared from behind a car, pulled out a firearm and fired five shots at his former girlfriend, striking her in the neck, chest, shoulder and stomach, according to Gonzalez. After she fell to the ground, Rivera continued to fire at her before pointing the handgun at the victim’s mother. Rivera aimed at the mother’s face and pulled the trigger, but the gun did not fire. Rivera fled the scene and the victim was rushed by EMS to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, where she succumbed to her wounds a short while later. Rivera was arrested the following day after he turned himself in at the 83rd Precinct.
“This defendant’s calculated, cold-blooded murder cut short Sade Sanchez’s life and robbed her family and friends of a beloved mother, daughter, and friend,” Gonzalez said. “With today’s substantial prison sentence, this defendant will no longer be a threat to anyone else in our community.”
Rivera was sentenced by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Rhonda Tomlinson to 25 years to life in prison.