Bloods Gang Member Gets 20 Years In Prison For Christmas Killing

A Hempstead man was sentenced to 20 years in prison today for the 2017 shooting death of a Valley Stream man who was on his way to pick up his daughter at the train station on Christmas.

Antoine Foster, 19, pleaded guilty on Oct. 16 to first-degree manslaughter. His co-defendant, Shameq Sullins, 19, also of Hempstead, was sentenced to seven years in prison on Jan. 28 after he peladed guilty to first-degree manslaughter on Dec. 3.

“This defendant opened fire on a busy Hempstead street during rush hour, killing an innocent man who was going to the train station to pick up his daughter,” said Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas. “Senseless acts of gun violence like this have devastating consequences for our communities and cannot be tolerated. I hope today’s sentence brings some sense of closure to Mr. Cepeda’s family.”

According to Singas, on Dec. 25, 2017, around 6:20 p.m., 36-year-old Rafael Cepeda was walking along Terrace Avenue in Hempstead, on the way to pick up his 11-year-old daughter at the train station to celebrate Christmas. Foster, with Sullins acting as a lookout, fired multiple shots at a vehicle that was driving by, firing in the direction of Cepeda, hitting him once in the chest and killing him. Cepeda was not the target of the shooting.

Both Foster and Sullins are Bloods gang members.

Sullins was arrested by police on Jan. 2, 2018. Foster was arrested in Alexandrai, Virginia on June 20, 2018 by Nassau County detectives, with the assistance of the local police and the U.S. Marshals.