On the night of May 26, 2015, 26-year-old Galvin Becerra, a male resident of Brooklyn, NY, was fatally shot in a violent encounter that also left his twin brother wounded. The incident unfolded inside their Gravesend apartment building on Stillwell Avenue. Police responded to a 911 call just after 11 p.m. and discovered the two brothers, both having sustained gunshot wounds to the chest.
Galvin Becerra was rushed to Coney Island Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries, which included gunshot wounds to his torso and legs.
Investigators soon began to piece together the events of that night, with evidence suggesting the shooting was the result of a drug deal that had turned into a robbery. The subsequent investigation led to the identification and arrest of three men in connection with the murder and assault. The first suspect, 24-year-old Bryan Panarella of Manhattan, was apprehended in September 2015. He was considered the suspected gunman and was charged with a slate of offenses, including murder, attempted murder, robbery, and criminal possession of a weapon.
Over a year later, in October 2016, the NYPD arrested two more individuals for their roles in the fatal shooting. Ernest Jones, 34, of Bedford-Stuyvesant, and Colyn Needham, 28, of Red Hook, faced the same charges as Panarella: murder, attempted robbery, assault, and criminal possession of a weapon. The arrests brought a renewed sense of hope for justice for the Becerra family, as all three men allegedly involved in the deadly confrontation were now in custody.
The wheels of justice turned, and the men faced legal proceedings for their alleged crimes. Ernest Jones went to trial and, on December 10, 2018, was convicted by a jury of murder in the second degree, assault in the first degree, attempted robbery in the first degree, and four counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. As a second violent felony offender, he received a significant sentence. For the murder conviction, he was sentenced to an indeterminate term of 20 years to life in prison. He received a consecutive determinate sentence of 20 years for the assault, to be followed by five years of post-release supervision. The sentences for the remaining convictions were to run concurrently. An appeal later resulted in a reduction of his assault sentence to a determinate term of 10 years.
