G-Shine Bloods Gang Members Planned To Murder Witness

MOUNT VERNON, NY — A plan to murder a witness set to testify about a gang shooting in Mount Vernon was foiled and the only thing the G-Shine Bloods Gang associates involved accomplished was to earn hefty prison sentences.

Today, Westchester County District Attorney Miriam Rocah announced the successful prosecution of five G-Shine Bloods gang members and associates for a jailhouse conspiracy to murder an eyewitness. The last of five defendants, Damien Rickard, was sentenced on April 4.

"Protecting witnesses and their safety is absolutely critical to a well-functioning justice system," Rocah said in a statement. "This case demonstrates how law enforcement works together to protect witnesses and ensure their safety. I commend the members of my Office and the Department of Corrections for their vigilance in preventing a murder and a travesty of justice."

Beginning in August 2018, Jason Garcia plotted with Matthew Brown, Cassaundra Dunham, Laquanna Kershaw and Damien Rickard to murder an eyewitness to a shooting outside the Garden Bar & Grill in Mount Vernon in 2016. At that time, Garcia and Brown were being held at Westchester County Jail awaiting trial on charges connected with the shooting, a trial where the eyewitness was scheduled to testify.

Investigators learned that Garcia was using a secret cellular telephone to communicate with his accomplices. Through telephone calls, the gang associates used coded language to discuss their plans to locate and kill the witness.

While on release from jail on an unrelated case, Rickard, also a G-Shine member, was recruited by him to find and kill the witness.

SEE ALSO: 4 Accused In Jail Cell Murder Conspiracy

Garcia directed Rickard to kill the witness and arranged for Dunham to provide Rickard with a loaded handgun, equipped with a laser-sight, for that purpose. Garcia and Kershaw discussed at length the whereabouts of the witness and the best place to commit the murder, preferring a location that did not have surveillance cameras.

On March 16, 2019, Dunham and Rickard were arrested near Park Avenue in Yonkers, after police watched the hand-off of the gun from Dunham to Rickard.

Garcia of Mount Vernon and Rickard of Yonkers were each convicted at trial.

Garcia was convicted of attempted murder in the first degree, conspiracy, criminal possession of a weapon and promoting prison contraband. The 38-year-old was sentenced to 25 years to life in March. The sentence will run consecutive to the 20 years to life Garcia received in 2020 for his conviction for the Garden Bar shooting.

Rickard was convicted of conspiracy and criminal possession of a weapon. The 44-year-old was sentenced on April 4, 2022, to 18 years to life in state prison.

Brown, of Wilmington, Delaware, pled guilty to conspiracy and was sentenced as a predicate felony offender in March to a prison term of 10 to 20 years. The sentence will run concurrent to the 20 years, with five years of post-release supervision the 37-year-old received in 2020 after pleading guilty to the Garden Bar shooting.

Kershaw, 34, of Ossining, pled guilty to conspiracy and was sentenced on June 22, 2021, to 7 to 21 years in prison.

Dunham, 45, of Yonkers, was sentenced in January, to a determinate term of 7.5 years in prison on a plea of guilty to criminal possession of a weapon and a prison term of 4 to 12 years on a plea of guilty to conspiracy.

"I applaud the efforts of the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office for the successful prosecution of these five G-Shine gang members," Corrections Commissioner Joseph Spano said. "The collaboration that uncovered this unique and complex attempted murder and conspiracy case is a testament to all involved law enforcement agencies, including our Departments Major Case Squad."

Correction: The headline of an earlier version of this story referred to the defendants as members of the "K-Shine Bloods." The five convicted men were members of the "G-Shine Bloods."