Press Release
BROOKLYN MAN SENTENCED TO 12 YEARS FOR 2021 SHOOTING AT QUEENS MOTEL
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Rawle Washington was sentenced to 12 years in prison for injuring a man he shot at the Surfside Motel in Howard Beach in September 2021.
District Attorney Katz said, “DNA evidence was instrumental in identifying the defendant after he callously shot a man and fled. Today he faces accountability for his reckless actions.”
Washington, 28, of Scholes Street in South Williamsburg, was found guilty by a jury in March of attempted assault in the first degree and criminal possession of a weapon. Queens Supreme Court Justice Stephanie Zaro yesterday sentenced the defendant to 12 years in prison.
According to the charges:
- On September 18, 2021, shortly after 10 a.m., police responded to reports of a shooting at the Surfside Motel on Cross Bay Boulevard. The victim, 29-year-old Kalif White, was lying on ground in front of the motel entrance bleeding with gunshot wounds to the buttocks and leg.
- Washington was seen on video surveillance in a baseball cap, light-colored shirt and dark pants in the motel lobby just after 5 a.m. and later that morning, around 10 a.m. The second time, Washington ran after the victim, pointed a gun in his direction and fired several times. Immediately after the shots rang out, the defendant turned and ran toward the rear of the motel.
- Further video evidence showed Washington toss the gun into the Shell Bank Basin adjacent to the motel. Police recovered the weapon as well as a light-colored shirt and the baseball cap near the scene.
- The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner tested both the baseball cap and the shirt and later confirmed a match to Washington’s DNA. The defendant was arrested January 18, 2022, after a lengthy investigation into his whereabouts.
Assistant District Attorney Nicole Rella, of the Career Criminal Major Crimes Bureau, is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Michael Whitney, Senior Deputy Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Shawn Clark.