Queens MS-13 Member Sentenced To 25 Years For Attempted Murder

JAMAICA, QUEENS — A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced an MS-13 member to nearly 26 years in prison for the attempted murder of a rival gang member in Jamaica.

Twenty-year-old Queens resident Kevin Paniagua will spend 25 years and eight months in prison for the Oct. 23, 2016 shooting, which left the victim paralyzed from the waist down.

Prosecutors said Paniagua and several others confronted the boy, a suspected member of the rival 18th Street gang, by the intersection of 179th Street and 90th Avenue in Jamaica. They began punching and kicking him, then Paniagua shot the boy in the face.

The victim was hospitalized for a year after the incident, according to prosecutors. Officials did not release his name.

Prosecutors had charged Paniagua and two others with assault and attempted murder in aid of racketeering in connection with the attack, QNS.com reported.