Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that a Queens resident has been charged with murder for allegedly shooting a man in the middle of a street in Corona on June 30, 2020.

District Attorney Katz said, “I am committed to ending the streak of gun violence that has recently plagued too many of our neighborhood streets. This defendant is accused of firing one shot into the back of a 21-year-old man late last month. This kind of vicious gunplay and disregard for human life will not be tolerated in Queens County.”

The District Attorney’s Office identified the defendant as Joshua Petillo, 23, of 130th Street, Corona. Petillo was arraigned today before Queens Criminal Court Judge Jerry Iannece on a complaint charging him with murder in the second degree and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. Judge Iannece remanded the defendant and set a return date for August 27, 2020. If convicted, Petillo faces up to 25 years to life in prison.

District Attorney Katz said that, on Tuesday, June 30, 2020, around 11:30 p.m., Petillo allegedly shot the victim, Dante Santillan in the back after chasing him down Warren Street in Corona with another suspect, who has yet to be apprehended. After being shot, Mr. Santillan managed to make it inside of a restaurant on 40th Road. A friend drove Mr. Santillan to an area hospital, where he later died from the single gunshot wound.

The investigation was led by Detective Charles Dever of the New York City Police Department’s 110th Precinct and Detective Shaquan Harvin of the Queens North Homicide Squad.

Assistant District Attorney Gabriel Mendoza, Supervisor of the District Attorney’s Violent Criminal Enterprises Bureau, is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Jonathan R. Sennett, Bureau Chief, and Michelle Goldstein, Senior Deputy Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Gerard Brave, Executive Assistant District Attorney in charge of Investigations.