Pot dealer who shot at cops near Manhattan housing project
Luis Martinez, 26, faces 25 years to life for firing three times at cops during the February 2012 shootout with uniformed cops near the Baruch Houses on the Lower East Side.
A college student who shot at two New York City cops while selling marijuana near a Manhattan housing project was convicted Friday of attempting murder.
Luis Martinez, 26, admitted to firing the first shot in the February 2012 shootout with the cops near the Baruch Houses on the Lower East Side.
Martinez looked hopefully at the jury and then hung his head lower and lower as each guilty verdict was announced by the jury forewoman in Manhattan Supreme Court. By the time she was done, he was wiping his eyes.
Martinez, who was attending Baruch College, now faces 25 years to life when he is sentenced on February 28.
In his testimony, Martinez admitted that he fired three times at the cops.
The officers returned fire with 14 bullets, hitting Martinez once in the right buttocks. Martinez said the lighting was bad and when the cops got out of an unmarked van and he didn’t realize they were police officers even though they were in uniform.
Police Officer Thomas Richards miraculously escaped harm when a single bullet hit his metal gun clip.
“Luis Martinez shot at two cops, and came within an inch of seriously injuring or killing one of them,” said District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr.
“Today justice was done, not only for the officers and their families, but for all New Yorkers who are tired of their lives being threatened by gun violence.”
Matthew D. Myers, for the defense