Posted on: November 09, 2024 12:00 PM

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Far Rockaway man sentenced to 24 years to life in prison for fatal shooting in 2021

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Waturi Johnson was sentenced today to 24 years to life in prison for the shooting death of Uriah Richardson, a father of three gunned down in midday outside of the Mott Avenue A train station in Far Rockaway in 2021. The two men did not know one another.

District Attorney Katz said: “This defendant took out a gun on a public street in broad daylight and used it to end the life of a stranger, a young father of three. He then fled to another state where he was apprehended. With today’s sentence, we have achieved justice for the victim and his loved ones.”

Johnson, 54, of Far Rockaway, was convicted by a jury in June of murder in the second degree and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. The trial lasted two weeks and the jury deliberated for approximately four hours.

Today, Justice Kenneth Holder sentenced the defendant to 24 years to life in prison on the murder charge and 15 years for each weapon possession charge, to be served concurrently.

According to the charges and trial testimony, on October 4, 2021, at approximately 1 p.m., Johnson was observed on surveillance video approaching 29-year-old Uriah Richardson at a taxi stand near the Mott Avenue A train station in Far Rockaway. As they neared one another, Richardson had his right hand in his pants pocket.

Johnson displayed a gun and Richardson took his hand from his pocket with his fist clenched around something. Johnson fired two shots at Richardson. The victim hit was in the leg and the chest and fled across the street where he collapsed. A folded box cutter was found on the ground near where he fell.

The shot to the chest pierced Richardson’s trachea, aorta, and lung. The defendant fled up the street.

He was apprehended a month after the shooting in Pennsylvania.

From Queens DA