Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Omar Prado was sentenced to 23 years in prison for the execution-style shooting of 29-year-old Kelvin Gomez. Prado pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the first degree last month, admitting that he shot the victim in June 2021.

District Attorney Katz said: “After a petty verbal argument, defendant Omar Prado waited for Kelvin Gomez to return to a local deli and shot him in the back of the head from less than two feet away. Gomez, a 29-year-old father, was killed instantly and the defendant fled to Ecuador. Thanks to the hard work of NYPD homicide detectives and my prosecutors, the defendant was apprehended and with this sentence, we have brought some measure of justice for the family and friends of Kelvin Gomez. We will not stop our efforts to end the cycle of destruction caused by illegal gun violence in our neighborhoods.”

Prado, 27, of Flushing, pleaded guilty on June 25 to manslaughter in the first degree before Queens Supreme Court Justice Frances Wang who sentenced him yesterday to 23 years in prison with five years of post-release supervision.

DA Katz said that, according to the charges and investigation, on June 2, 2021, at approximately 10 a.m., Prado arrived at a deli on 108^th Street in Corona. About a half hour later, victim Kelvin Gomez went to the same location and got into a verbal argument with the defendant. Gomez then left.

Gomez came back to the deli at approximately 5 p.m.  Around the same time, Prado emerged from a silver Mercedes-Benz that was parked down the block. He approached Gomez and they had a brief conversation. At approximately 5:08 p.m., Prado removed a firearm from his sweatshirt pocket and fired one round into the back of the victim’s head from less than two feet away. Prado then ran to the corner of Van Doren Street where the silver Mercedes-Benz getaway car was waiting for him to flee. Gomez was pronounced dead at the scene.

Prado fled to Ecuador on June 4, less than 48 hours after the shooting, but was apprehended months later when he returned to New York.

Assistant District Attorney Ryan Nicolosi of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau prosecuted the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys John Kosinski, Bureau Chief, Jonathan Selkowe and Karen Ross, Deputy Chiefs, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Shawn Clark.