BROOKLYN MAN SENTENCED TO 12 YEARS FOR 2021 SHOOTING AT QUEENS MOTEL
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Rawle Washington was sentenced to 12 years in prison for injuring a man he shot at the Surfside Motel in Howard Beach in September 2021.
District Attorney Katz said, “DNA evidence was instrumental in identifying the defendant after he callously shot a man and fled. Today he faces accountability for his reckless actions.”
Washington, 28, of Scholes Street in South Williamsburg, was found guilty by a jury in March of attempted assault in the first degree and criminal possession of a weapon. Queens Supreme Court Justice Stephanie Zaro yesterday sentenced the defendant to 12 years in prison.
According to the charges:
- On September 18, 2021, shortly after 10 a.m., police responded to reports of a shooting at the Surfside Motel on Cross Bay Boulevard. The victim, 29-year-old Kalif White, was lying on ground in front of the motel entrance bleeding with gunshot wounds to the buttocks and leg.
- Washington was seen on video surveillance in a baseball cap, light-colored shirt and dark pants in the motel lobby just after 5 a.m. and later that morning, around 10 a.m. The second time, Washington ran after the victim, pointed a gun in his direction and fired several times. Immediately after the shots rang out, the defendant turned and ran toward the rear of the motel.
- Further video evidence showed Washington toss the gun into the Shell Bank Basin adjacent to the motel. Police recovered the weapon as well as a light-colored shirt and the baseball cap near the scene.
- The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner tested both the baseball cap and the shirt and later confirmed a match to Washington’s DNA. The defendant was arrested January 18, 2022, after a lengthy investigation into his whereabouts.
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