A Virginia man, Khalike Berry, was sentenced Monday to 25 years to life in prison for the murder of a Queensbridge Houses father in 2021. QNS/file
June 25, 2025 By Bill Parry
A Virginia man was sentenced Monday to 25 years to life in prison for the 2021 fatal shooting of a 33-year-old father near the Queensbridge Houses in Long Island City.
Khalik Berry, 35, was convicted by a jury in February of second-degree murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon for shooting Kayron Wilson as he sat in a car with his girlfriend.
According to the charges and trial testimony, just before midnight on May 10, 2021, Berry, who is originally from Queens, along with another man, approached Wilson as he sat in the front passenger seat of a Mercury Milton parked on 12th Street and 40th Avenue. Wilson’s girlfriend was in the driver’s seat. Berry pulled out a firearm and shot Wilson seven times in the back, abdomen and arms. Berry’s accomplice also pointed a gun at Wilson’s vehicle, but he fired no shots. The gunmen entered a nearby parked vehicle and fled the scene.
EMS rushed Wilson to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, where he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead.
Berry fled back to Virginia, where he was tracked down and taken into custody on June 1, 2021, and returned to Queens to face charges.
“This defendant fired a gun seven times into the back, abdomen, and arms of 33-year-old Kayron Wilson, killing the young father in cold blood,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. “After his completely senseless act, the defendant left the jurisdiction and was ultimately apprehended a month later in Virginia.”
Following a week-long trial in February, the jury deliberated for just over an hour before returning a guilty verdict on February 17. Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Yavinsky sentenced Berry to 25 years to life imprisonment.
“I have been remarkably clear,” Katz said. “My office will vigorously investigate and prosecute those who use guns in our communities.”
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