QUEENS, NY — A Manhattan man who opened fire on two NYPD officers while disguised in a trench coat and fake mustache was sentenced Monday to 35 years to life in prison for attempted murder and related charges.
Antonio Olmeda, 66, was convicted last month by a Queens jury after just eight minutes of deliberation. The charges stem from a 2011 shooting in Jackson Heights where he fired three rounds at Officers Stephen Danisi and Matthew Ferrara.
The officers had approached Olmeda near 37-55 76th Street after receiving a report of a suspicious man wearing a fedora, glasses, trench coat, and fake facial hair. When asked to show his hands, Olmeda refused. Officer Danisi then touched his back and felt what turned out to be a bulletproof vest beneath the coat.
Seconds later, Olmeda pulled out a .38-caliber Taurus revolver and fired three times at the officers before fleeing on foot. He shed his disguise while running — the hat, glasses, fake mustache and beard — all of which were recovered and tested for DNA. The samples matched Olmeda, whose profile was already on file from a prior conviction.
He was arrested eight days later while parking a vehicle on East 16th Street in Manhattan. Inside the car, police recovered a revolver containing two live rounds and three spent shell casings.
Olmeda’s initial guilty plea was voided due to a procedural conflict with a prior federal case, and the matter proceeded to trial.
Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder handed down the sentence Monday. The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Kanella Georgopoulos and Jennie Evangelista of the Homicide Bureau.
Olmeda was convicted of two counts of attempted murder in the first degree, attempted aggravated assault of a police officer, and attempted assault in the first degree.