Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Isaiah Stokes was convicted of murder following a jury trial for the fatal shooting of Tyrone Jones in St. Albans on February 7, 2021. The victim was sitting in a parked Jeep Cherokee and waiting for a friend to arrive to have lunch at a nearby restaurant. The shooting is believed to have been retaliation for an altercation between the defendant and the victim at the victim’s birthday party in October 2020.

District Attorney Katz said: “This was a calculated murder. The defendant, a part-time actor, stewed for months after being thrown out of a birthday party for his own inappropriate behavior. Intent on revenge, Isaiah Stokes placed a GPS on the victim’s car and tracked Tyrone Jones down to Linden Boulevard, where he ruthlessly shot the man 11 times as he sat in his car. My office is laser-focused on gun violence, and we will utilize every tool at our disposal to investigate, arrest and prosecute those who use deadly guns on our streets. I thank our prosecutors and the NYPD detectives who built this case. The jury has now spoken, and the defendant faces up to 25 years to life at sentencing for his criminal actions.”

Stokes, 45, of 62^nd Road, Rego Park, was found guilty Friday of murder in the second degree and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree following a two-week jury trial, which started on February 13. Justice Kenneth Holder set the defendant’s sentencing date for March 21, at which time Stokes faces up to 25 years to life in prison.

According to the charges and trial testimony, 37-year-old victim Tyrone Jones and the defendant, a part-time actor, met during the victim’s birthday party at a Queens club in October 2020. Both parties were involved in an altercation related to Stokes’ inappropriate behavior toward female party guests. After Stokes refused Jones’ request that he leave, Stokes was injured during a physical altercation with other partygoers.

On or about January 29, 2021, the defendant placed a GPS tracking device underneath Jones’ vehicle and used that GPS device to track the victim down on February 7, 2021.

At approximately 2:30 p.m. that day, Stokes exited a park Audi SUV with New Jersey license plates at the intersection of 200^th Street and 118^th Avenue. The defendant circled the area of 200^th Street and Linden Boulevard on foot for approximately 15 minutes before he walked towards Jones’ Jeep Grand Cherokee, took out a gun and fired 11 times into the car.

The victim, who was waiting for a friend inside the vehicle, suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the head and chest and was pronounced dead on the scene.

Stokes drove the vehicle back to his Rego Park apartment later that afternoon and returned the vehicle to a rental location in Hackensack, NJ, on February 16.

Detective Daniel Connors of the NYPD’s 113^th Precinct and retired Detective Michael Naus, formerly of the NYPD’s Queens South Homicide Squad, investigated the case and ultimately arrested the defendant on July 16, 2021, at his apartment with the assistance of the NYPD’s Regional Fugitive Task Force. The execution of a search warrant at the defendant’s apartment revealed documents connecting the defendant to the GPS tracking device that was found beneath the victim’s vehicle.

Assistant District Attorney Timothy Regan, former Deputy Bureau Chief of the District Attorney’s Felony Trial Bureau IV, and current Deputy Chief of the District Attorney’s Career Criminal Major Crimes Bureau, prosecuted the case with the assistance of Assistant District Attorney Dina Hodges of the Felony Trials Bureau IV, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Karen Rankin, Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for the Supreme Court Trial Division Pishoy Yacoub.