On a summer evening in 2021, the life of Manuel Salazar, a 32-year-old male resident of Sleepy Hollow, was tragically cut short. On June 28th, at approximately 9:30 p.m., Salazar was at Margotta Courts Park in Sleepy Hollow when a confrontation occurred. During the argument, another man shot Salazar once in the abdomen. Emergency services transported him to Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, where he was pronounced dead.
Another individual was also wounded in the shooting but was treated at the hospital and subsequently released.
The investigation into the shooting was a collaborative effort involving the Sleepy Hollow Police Department, with assistance from the Tarrytown Police Department, the Westchester County Department of Public Safety, the FBI's Westchester Safe Streets Task Force, and the Greenburgh Drug and Alcohol Task Force. Investigators utilized surveillance video, ballistics evidence, and witness interviews to identify a suspect. The day after the shooting, on June 29, 2021, authorities arrested 18-year-old Emmanuel Valentin Perez of Mount Vernon outside his home.
Emmanuel Valentin Perez was subsequently indicted on multiple felony charges, including manslaughter in the first degree, criminal use of a firearm in the first degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, attempted assault in the first degree, and assault in the second degree. On August 17, 2023, Perez pleaded guilty to manslaughter and felony assault. In January 2024, a judge sentenced Perez, then 21, to 10 years in state prison for the fatal shooting of Salazar. Following his prison term, he will be subject to five years of post-release supervision. During the sentencing, a victim impact statement from Salazar's widow was read, expressing the profound and lasting pain his death has caused their family.
