MAN SENTENCED FOR SHOOTING AT KEW GARDENS MOTOR INN [VIDEO]

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Leo Daley was sentenced to 19 years in prison for attempted murder for shooting 25-year-old Terrell Chery inside the Kew Motor Inn in September 2022 and firing at another man who managed to escape.

District Attorney Katz said: "We are thankful we did not see the mass casualties that could have resulted from the defendant opening fire in a motel lobby. It is because of brazen violence like this that we must do all in our power to get illegal guns and the criminals who use them off our streets."

Daley, 23, of 140th Avenue in Springfield Gardens, was convicted by a jury in February following a nearly two-week trial of attempted murder in the second degree, assault in the first degree, attempted assault in the first degree, assault in the second degree, attempted assault in the second degree, two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, and reckless endangerment in the first degree.

He was sentenced today by Justice Stephanie Zaro to 19 years in prison and five years post release supervision.

According to the charges and trial testimony:

• On September 15, 2022, at approximately 12:30 a.m., Daley walked into the lobby of the Kew Motor Inn, located at 139-01 Grand Central Parkway in Kew Gardens Hills, and entered the adjacent bar.
• Seconds later, Daley walked back into the lobby, and pulled up a facemask to cover his mouth and nose.
• Chery and 24-year-old Mylord Williams left the bar shortly afterward.
• Chery walked to the elevator bank and was waiting there when the masked Daley approached and fired at least two shots from close range, striking Chery in the left buttock and piercing the rectum.
• Daley then pivoted and fired multiple shots at Williams, who had been standing just by the bar door. Williams ran, escaping without getting shot.
• Hotel video surveillance footage shows other people in the lobby ducking for cover and hiding when Daley began shooting.
• Daley had been on parole supervision since April 2022 and regularly attended required meetings. Following the shooting, he stopped attending the meetings and fled to New Jersey, where he was located and extradited to New York in November 2022.
• Chery required an ileostomy and suffered other complications as a result of the gunshot wound.

Assistant District Attorney Kiran Cheema, Supervisor in the District Attorney's Human Trafficking Bureau, prosecuted the case with the assistance of Assistant District Attorney Tara DiGregorio, Deputy Bureau Chief, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Jessica Melton, Bureau Chief, under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Gerard Brave.