Oct. 25, 2023 By Bill Parry
A Bronx man was criminally charged with attempted murder in Queens Supreme Court on Wednesday, Oct. 25, for shooting at an off-duty NYPD detective while driving on the Long Island Expressway in an apparent fit of road rage last month.
Alexis Morillo, 40, of Hammerly Avenue in the Pelham Gardens section of the Bronx, was arraigned on a six-count indictment charging him with attempted murder in the second degree; attempted assault in the first degree; two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree; reckless driving; and unlawful fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle in the third degree.
According to the charges, at around 12:20 a.m. on Sept. 17, the off-duty police detective was driving eastbound on the Long Island Expressway near the Cross Island Parkway and traveling in the left lane behind a white Mercedes-Benz GLC 300 SUV driven by Morillo when he passed him and re-entered the left lane.
Morillo then drove into the middle lane alongside the detective’s car and matched his speed. The detective looked over and saw Morillo, who was alone in the car, yelling at him, according to the charges. The detective glanced over again at Morillo’s and saw a muzzle flash. A bullet struck his car on the passenger side. The detective slowed slightly and began to follow Morillo’s Mercedes SUV as it sped off and exited the LIE at the Douglaston Parkway exit and headed westbound on the Horace Harding Expressway and then re-entered the westbound Long Island Expressway.
The detective called 911 from his car and reported the gunman’s license plate number. He continued to follow Morillo until they reached the vicinity of the Horace Harding Expressway, where the detective lost sight of him.
Detectives from the 111th Precinct in Bayside found a bullet hole in the front passenger side panel of the detective’s car and eventually recovered deformed bullet fragment from inside the panel. Morillo’s vehicle, which was registered to his girlfriend, was abandoned in Astoria.
Records indicate that after the time of the shooting incident, Morillo called an Uber to travel from Astoria to his home in the Pelham Gardens section of the Bronx.
“A police detective nearly lost his life in a mindless act of violence,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said of the road rage incident. “We cannot relent in our efforts to get guns off the street and will continue to do all we can to keep our detectives and communities safe.”
Queens Supreme Court Justice Toni Cimino ordered Morilllo to return to court on Nov. 20. If convicted, Morillo faces up to 25 years in prison.