Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced on Wednesday, Dec. 8, that a 32-year-old man has been convicted and sentenced to 22 years to life in prison, after a jury found him guilty of murder for shooting a man multiple times on a Bronx street in 2018. He was also charged with criminal possession of a weapon.

 

Clark said the defendant, Akeem Samuel, 32, whose last known address was 2280 Andrews Avenue in the University Heights section of the Bronx, was sentenced on Tuesday, Dec. 7, to 22 years to life in prison for the second-degree murder charge, along with eight years in prison and five years’ post-release supervision for the second-degree criminal possession of a weapon charge by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Steven Barrett. The sentences will run concurrently.  A jury found Samuel guilty of the charges on October 27, 2021.

 

In the context of the announcement, Clark said, “The defendant approached the victim from behind and shot him. When the victim fell to the ground, the defendant continued firing at close range six more times.”

 

According to the investigation, on the evening of July 31, 2018, the victim, Frederick Hayes, 27, was walking near 2222 Andrews Avenue in University Heights when Samuel approached him from behind. An eyewitness to the crime testified in court that Samuel approached the victim, shot him, and when Hayes fell to the ground, Samuel fired at him again at close range. Hayes was shot three times in the back, three times behind the ear, and once in the arm. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Samuel fled the scene and was arrested on December 11, 2018.

 

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney John Miras, counsel in the homicide bureau, and Assistant District Attorney Aaron Novy of trial bureau 30, 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 intelligence analyst, Daniel Walker, and principal intelligence analyst, Theresa Ramos, both of the crime strategies bureau, for their assistance in the investigation, as well as NYPD Detective John McGivney of the 52^nd precinct and NYPD Detective Sean Butler of the Bronx homicide squad.