Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced on Wednesday, Jan. 12, that a Bronx man has been sentenced to 17 years in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree manslaughter for fatally shooting a man in a subway station in 2019.

In reference to the news, Clark said, “The defendant got into an argument with a man inside a busy Bronx subway station and heartlessly shot him in front of the victim’s five-year-old son and multiple commuters. The child has been deeply traumatized since the incident.” She added, “I send my condolences to the victim’s family, especially the young boy who saw his father die in such a cruel way.”

The district attorney said the defendant, Rafael Hollis, 31, last of Sheridan Avenue, from an area south of the Mt Eden neighborhood, was sentenced, on Jan. 12, to 17 years in prison and five years of post-release supervision by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Steven Barrett. The defendant pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter on Dec. 9, 2021, before Bronx Supreme Court Justice John Carter.

 

According to the investigation, on Oct. 4, 2019 at 6:30 p.m., at a subway station located at 167^th Street and Grand Concourse, in an area south of the Mt Eden neighborhood, the victim, James Cubille, 24, met with his ex-girlfriend to pick up his son. The defendant, who was in a relationship with Cubille’s ex-girlfriend, showed up and argued with the victim. Hollis took out a gun and shot Cubille in the torso in front of the victim’s son, ex-girlfriend and multiple commuters. The victim was declared dead on arrival at Lincoln Medical Center. The defendant fled the scene and turned himself in two days later.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Burim Namani, counsel in the homicide bureau, under the supervision of Christine Scaccia, chief of the homicide bureau, and under the overall supervision of James Brennan, deputy chief of the trial division, and Theresa Gottlieb, chief of the trial division. Clark thanked retired NYPD Detective Matthew Crawley of the 44^th precinct and retired NYPD Detective Christine Reyes of the Bronx Homicide Squad for their assistance in the investigation.