Press Release

DEFENDANT SENTENCED TO 17 YEARS IN PRISON FOR MANSLAUGHTER

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Atekel Donaldson was sentenced to 17 years in prison for the death of a 15-year-old getting off of a city bus in Far Rockaway in February 2018.

District Attorney Katz said: “A teenager’s life was senselessly cut short by gun violence, which continues to steal family, friends, and loved ones from our communities. We cannot relent until we end the plague of illegal guns on our streets.”

Donaldson, 26, of Bay 32nd Street, Far Rockaway, pleaded guilty in December to manslaughter in the first degree. Justice Kenneth Holder sentenced him to a determinate term of 17 years in prison followed by five years post-release supervision.

According to the charges, on Thursday, February 8, 2018, at approximately 4:06 pm, in front of 46-15 Beach Channel Drive, Donaldson approached the victim, Youssef Soliman, 15, as he was getting off of a city bus in Far Rockaway. Donaldson shot Soliman twice, striking him in the hand and torso, fatally wounding him.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Zawistowski of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Peter J. McCormack, III and John W. Kosinski, Senior Deputy Chiefs, and Karen Ross Deputy Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Shawn Clark.