Queens camp counselor killer gets just 17 years in prison

Adam Devine

QUEENS, NY – Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Jonel Lattore, 38, has been sentenced to prison after pleading guilty last month to manslaughter in the first degree. The victim, a 21-year-old camp counselor, was shot and killed by the defendant in August 2017, as she was walking home from a nearby store.

District Attorney Katz said, “This senseless shooting took the life of a young woman – a devastating blow for her family and loved ones. The defendant pleaded guilty and has now been ordered to prison by the Court as punishment for this meaningless death.”

Lattore, of 199th Street, in the St. Albans section of Queens, pleaded guilty last month to manslaughter in the first degree before Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder. Justice Holder today sentenced the defendant to a determinate term of 17 years in prison, to be followed by five years’ post release supervision.

District Attorney Katz said, on the evening of August 15, 2017, Teriana Holcombe, of Cambria Heights, Queens, was walking home from a store with several other individuals, including a friend who earlier in the day had been involved in a physical confrontation with the defendant. As they walked away from the store, a male standing near the store with another group, which included the defendant, yelled out at them. Ms. Holcombe turned toward the second group and at that moment the defendant fired several shots from a handgun, one of which fatally struck Ms. Holcombe in the head.


Assistant District Attorney Tara DiGregorio, Assistant Deputy Bureau Chief of the Human Trafficking Bureau and formerly with the Homicide Bureau, prosecuted the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Peter J. McCormack III and John Kosinski, Senior Deputy Bureau Chiefs, Karen Ross, Deputy Chief and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel A. Saunders.

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