Brooklyn Man Sentenced for Murder, Shooting West Hempstead Man

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced Wednesday that a Brooklyn man has been sentenced to 50 years to life in prison for killing one man and injuring two others, including a West Hempstead resident, in an April 2011 shooting in the parking lot of a McDonald’s restaurant in Hempstead.

Ronnie Duren, 42, was convicted of second-degree Murder, two counts of second-degree Attempted Murder, two counts of first-degree Assault, first-degree Criminal Possession of a Weapon, two counts of second-degree Criminal Possession of a Weapon, and first-degree Attempted Assault. His sentences of 25 years to life for the murder conviction and 25 years for the attempted murder convictions will run consecutively.

Rice said that at approximately 11 p.m. on April 16, 2011, Duren met up with Michael Prophet, 35, of Valley Stream, at the McDonald’s restaurant on Peninsula Boulevard in Hempstead and got into Prophet’s blue Ford van to engage in a drug deal. During the deal, Duren produced a handgun and shot and killed Prophet with a single gunshot to the back.

Duren fired three more shots, wounding a passenger in Prophet’s van, Hayden Forrest, 35, of Uniondale, in the right shoulder, as well as Prophet’s friend, Henry Fowler, 28, of West Hempstead, who was seated in the passenger seat of a car parked next to Prophet’s van. Both Forrest and Fowler, who was shot in the left arm, survived the shooting. A fourth man, Agnon McLoud, 23, of Hempstead, was seated in the backseat of the second car and fled the scene on foot when he heard gunshots.

Duren fled the scene but was arrested by detectives with the Nassau County Police Department’s Homicide Squad on June 28, 2011. He was convicted by a jury on October 24, 2012.

“The sheer magnitude of violence this defendant is capable of demanded this prison sentence,” Rice said. “Our communities are safer with Mr. Duren off the streets, and this case is yet another example of the tragic consequences of gun violence.”

Assistant District Attorney Lauren Nickerson, of the Major Offense Bureau, is prosecuting the case. Duren is represented by Brian Carmody, Esq.