Danbury man pleads guilty in murder of 18-year-old Yonkers man
A Danbury, Connecticut, man who fatally shot a Yonkers teenager in an ambush as the victim pulled up in a car on Morris Street last year has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
Matthew Quinones, 22, admitted in Westchester County Court on Tuesday that he killed 18-year-old Daquan Powell on May 31, 2023, in what police said was one of several related gang shootings in southwest Yonkers that spring.
State Supreme Court Justice Anne Minihan promised Quinones a prison term of 18 years to life and scheduled sentencing for Aug. 13.
What court documents show happened
According to court documents, video surveillance revealed that Quinones and two associates waited in the driveway of 55 Morris St. for half an hour before Powell pulled up in a black car. Quinones then walked up to the driver's side and fired several shots through the window before he and the other two fled.
Powell was struck at least five times and died a short time later at St. Joseph's Hospital.
A pasenger in the car was also shot and police found him a short time later with a gunshot wound to his knee in the lobby of a Hamilton Avenue apartment building a block away.
How Matthew Quinones became a suspect
Quinones was developed as a suspect with the help of Danbury police. Reviewing social media, a Yonkers police gang detective found a YouTube rap video from a year earlier in which Quinones appeared to be wearing the same red sneakers and black sweatshirt with graphic writing on it as the man who shot Powell, according to court documents.
Quinones was arrested at his home a week after Powell was killed.
One of the two teenagers with Quinones the night of the shooting is charged with conspiracy and hindering prosecution in the case. That teenager has also been charged in connection with the May 13, 2023, shooting of a Brooklyn man on Livingston Street in Yonkers.
The gun used to kill Powell was later recovered after it was used in a shooting five days later on Riverdale Avenue. Multiple shots were fired, hitting a car with two occupants but nobody was injured.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Danbury man pleads guilty to murder in shooting of Yonkers NY man
