In the early hours of a Friday morning in Schenectady, New York, violence shattered the quiet of a Mont Pleasant neighborhood. On June 27, 2014, Angel Carrion, a 28-year-old male, was fatally shot in the chest outside a residence at 1231 Main Street. The shooting, which occurred shortly after 1:30 a.m., marked the first homicide in the city that year.
Emergency services responded to the scene, but Carrion succumbed to his injuries.
The investigation into Carrion's death unfolded over several months. It was revealed that the shooting was not a random act of violence but rather the culmination of a bitter and ongoing feud. The conflict had ties to the Latin Kings street gang, with which both Carrion and his eventual killer were affiliated. Several hours before the fatal encounter, the dispute escalated when an associate of Carrion's attacked another gang member. This event set in motion a tragic chain of events. City surveillance cameras captured Hector Abreu, then 23 years old, and an accomplice riding bicycles across the city, eventually arriving near Carrion's home.
Abreu first attempted to shoot at Carrion as he walked with another man at the corner of Main and Ostrander streets, but the gun did not fire. Undeterred, Abreu waited, ambushing Carrion as he walked onto his front porch and shooting him three times before fleeing the scene. For months, the case remained unsolved. However, in December 2014, Abreu was arrested on unrelated charges for a separate shooting that occurred in October of that year. While incarcerated for that crime, he was charged in February 2017 with the murder of Angel Carrion.
During a two-and-a-half-week trial in September 2017, the prosecution presented evidence of the feud and the planned nature of the attack. The jury convicted Hector Abreu of second-degree murder, attempted assault, and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon. He was, however, acquitted of the attempted murder charge related to the initial failed attempt to shoot Carrion. The District Attorney's office noted that there were attempts to intimidate witnesses during the trial. Abreu was already serving a sentence of up to 12 and a half years for the October 2014 assault at the time of his murder conviction.
