Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Alexis Morillo was charged today with attempted murder, accused of shooting while driving on the Long Island Expressway at another motorist, an off-duty NYPD detective, in an apparent fit of road rage.

District Attorney Katz said: “A police detective nearly lost his life in a mindless act of violence. 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.”

Morillo, 40, of Hammersley Avenue in 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. If convicted, Morillo faces up to 25 years in prison. Supreme Court Justice Toni Cimino ordered him to return to court on November 20.

According to the charges:

• On September 17, at approximately 12:20 a.m., an off-duty police detective was driving eastbound on the Long Island Expressway near the Cross Island Parkway. He was in the left lane behind a white Mercedes-Benz GLC 300 SUV driven by Morillo when he passed Morillo on the right 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.
• The detective glanced over again at Morillo’s car and saw a muzzle flash. A bullet struck his car on the passenger side.
• The detective slowed slightly and began to follow the Morillo’s Mercedes-Benz as its sped off and exited the LIE and then re-entered the expressway heading westbound. The detective called 911 from his car and reported the defendant’s license plate number. He continued following Morillo until they reached the vicinity of the Horace Harding Expressway, where he lost sight of him.
• Police found a bullet hole in the front passenger side panel of the detective’s car and eventually recovered a 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 incident, Morillo called an Uber to travel from Astoria home to the Bronx

Assistant District Attorney Gabriel J. Reale of the District Attorney’s Career Criminal Major Crimes Bureau is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Michael Whitney, Senior Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Shawn Clark.