Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Alexis Morillo was convicted by a jury of attempted assault, weapon possession and other crimes for shooting at another motorist, an off-duty NYPD detective, in an apparent fit of road rage while driving on the Long Island Expressway in September 2023.

District Attorney Katz said: “Gun violence will not be tolerated anywhere in Queens, not on our community streets and not on our shared roadways. The defendant shot at a fellow motorist, who happened to be an off-duty NYPD detective, in a fit of road rage that could have very easily ended in tragedy. I thank the jury for its service and the defendant now faces prison time for his dangerous criminal behavior.”

Morillo, 41, of Hammersley Avenue in the Bronx, was convicted yesterday by a jury of attempted assault in the first degree, two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, reckless driving and unlawfully fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle in the third degree. He was acquitted of attempted murder.

Trial openings began on June 24, 2025 and summations on July 22, 2025. The jury deliberated for three hours before reaching a verdict. Supreme Court Justice David Kirschner set sentencing for September 8 when Morillo faces up to 15 years in prison.

According to the charges and trial testimony, on September 17, 2023, 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 yelling at him.

The detective glanced over again at Morillo’s car and saw a muzzle flash. A bullet struck his car on the front passenger side panel, above the tire.

The detective slowed slightly and began to follow 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.

The defendant was apprehended on October 25, 2023 by Detective Justin Guzman of the 111^th Precinct Detective Squad.

Assistant District Attorney Hugh McCann of the District Attorney’s Career Criminal Major Crimes Bureau is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Michael Whitney, Bureau Chief, and Roni C. Piplani and Timothy Regan, Deputy Bureau Chiefs, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Shawn Clark.