Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Tyrell Dennis was sentenced today to 25 years to life in prison for fatally shooting a 35-year-old man at point-blank range in a Far Rockaway apartment building in August 2020.

District Attorney Katz said: “Senseless gun violence has tragically cut short too many lives including that of this victim. The defendant is being held accountable for his brutal actions and we will not let up in our efforts to remove illegal weapons from our streets.”

Dennis, 35, of Redfern Avenue in Far Rockaway, was convicted in June of murder in the second degree, two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and menacing in the second degree. Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Aloise today sentenced Dennis to 25 years to life in prison.

According to the charges and trial testimony:

• Video surveillance showed that on August 1, 2020, at approximately 6:27 a.m., Dennis entered an apartment building at 22-27 Dix Avenue in Far Rockaway, approached a woman who was in the mailroom and pointed a gun at her head. He pushed the woman through a doorway and questioned her about the location of certain individuals.
• Dennis proceeded to the first floor of the building where 35-year-old Eric Thomas lived. A short time later, a man exited Thomas’ apartment leaving the door open.
• Thomas was about to leave the apartment when Dennis approached him, pulled a gun from his waistband, pointed it at Thomas and shot him once in the chest. Dennis then fled the building.
• The victim was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
• Dennis was arrested in Pennsylvania on unrelated charges on November 28, 2020. He was extradited to New York to answer to the murder charge brought against him in Queens.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Timothy Shortt of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau prosecuted the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys John Kosinski, Bureau Chief, and Karen Ross, Deputy Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Senior Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Shawn Clark.