13 hours ago
Yonkers man pleads guilty just before jury selection in fatal shooting outside bar
A Yonkers man who was harassing people outside a city bar late last summer before pistol-whipping and fatally shooting a 25-year-old man has pleaded guilty in the case.
Carlos Villanueva, 31, initially charged with second-degree murder in the Sept. 8, 2024, killing of Celestino Vasquez-Patricio, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter on Monday, June 16, after he was promised a 21-year prison term.
At about 3:40 a.m. the morning of the shooting, Villanueva was on South Broadway between Ludlow Street and Highland Avenue hassling pedestrians and telling them he had a gun, prosecutors said in court documents. He even grabbed one person's hand and touched it to the gun in his waistband.
Moments later, Vasquez-Patricio and a friend left a pool hall on the block and got on line to enter Go Sports Bar & Lounge. Villanueva confronted Vasquez-Patricio, thinking he had shouted something at him, and started menacing him. Villanueva walked back and forth in front of the bar, at one point lifting his shirt to reveal the gun.
Security guards at the bar tried to calm Villanueva down, but when Vasquez-Patricio and his friend began to leave, another confrontation ensued. Villanueva then pulled the gun out, struck Vasquez-Patricio on the head and shot him in the chest.
A police car was on the scene almost immediately and Vasquez-Patricio collapsed in the front seat. Police began rendering aid and Vasquez-Patricio was then taken to Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, where he was pronounced dead two hours later.
More: Man charged in fatal Yonkers shooting that followed dispute
Villanueva walked away but was caught by Yonkers police moments later around the corner on Ludlow Street. He immediately denied any wrongdoing, insisting he had no weapon on him. But police soon found the gun, a 9mm Ruger, in a yard Villanueva had passed moments earlier. Forensic testing later identified his DNA on the gun's grip and slide, prosecutors said in court documents.
Villanueva pleaded guilty Monday as jury selection was expected to start. He would have faced up to 25 years to life in prison on the murder charge. He was returned to the Westchester County jail to await sentencing, which Westchester Judge Maurice Dean Williams scheduled for Aug. 1.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Yonkers NY man pleads guilty to manslaughter in fatal shooting by bar
