Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Tyrell Dennis, 31, has been indicted by a grand jury and arraigned in Queens Supreme Court on murder and other charges.
District Attorney Katz said, “The victim, a young father of two, was having a conversation in the hallway of his apartment building when the defendant allegedly approached and shot him in the chest. The accused allegedly fled the state in the hope of evading justice but has been brought back to Queens to face the consequences of this senseless gun violence.”
Dennis, of Redfern Avenue in Far Rockaway, Queens, was arraigned yesterday before Queens Supreme Court Justice Evelyn Braun on four-count indictment charging him with murder in the second degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and menacing in the second degree. Justice Braun remanded the defendant and ordered him to return to Court on August 10, 2021. If convicted, Dennis faces up to 25 years-to-life in prison.
According to the charges, on August 1, 2020, around 6:30 a.m. the defendant approached Eric Thomas, who was in the first-floor hallway of his apartment building on Dix Avenue near Pinson Avenue. The victim was engaged in a conversation with another person when the defendant allegedly fired a bullet into the 35-year-old’s chest and then fled the scene.
Mr. Thomas was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced deceased.
NYPD investigators arrested Dennis in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, June 22, 2021.
The investigation was conducted by Detective Richard Schell of the New York City Police Department’s 101st Precinct Detective Squad and Detective Joseph Zvonik of the 100th Precinct Detective Squad.