A Springfield Gardens man was sentenced to 19 years in prison Thursday for attempted murder in the shooting of a 25-year-old man at the Kew Motor Inn and firing at a second man who managed to escape in September 2022.
Leo Daley, 23, of 140th Avenue, was convicted by a jury in February following a nearly two-week trial in Queens Supreme Court.
According to the charges and trial testimony, on Sept. 15, 2022, at approximately 12:30 a.m., Daley entered the lobby of the Kew Motor Inn, located at 139-01 Grand Central Pkwy. in Kew Gardens Hills, and entered an adjacent bar. Seconds later, Daley walked back into the lobby and pulled up a facemask to cover his mouth and nose. Terell Chery, 25, and 24-year-old Mylord Williams left the bar shortly afterward. Chery walked to the elevator bank and was waiting there when the masked-up Daley approached and fired at least two shots from close range, striking Chery in the left buttock and piercing his rectum.
Daley then pivoted and fired multiple shots at Williams, who had been standing just by the bar door. Williams ran, escaping without getting shot.
Hotel video surveillance shows other people in the lobby ducking for cover and hiding when Daley began shooting. Daley had been on parole supervision since April 2022 and regularly attended required meetings. Following the shootings, he stopped attending the meetings and fled to New Jersey, where he was tracked down and extradited back to Queens in November 2022. Chery required an ileostomy and suffered other complications as a result of the gunshot wound.
“We are thankful we did not see the mass casualties that could have resulted from the defendant opening fire in a motel lobby,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. “It is because of brazen violence like this that we must do all in our power to get illegal guns and the criminals who use them off our streets.”
Queens Supreme Court Justice Stephanie Zaro sentenced Daley to 19 years imprisonment and five years post-release supervision.