Huntington Station, NY - March 3, 2014 - A 25 year old Huntington Station man is charged in a two-count indictment in the shooting death of a 33 year old Roosevelt man in Huntington Station on August 21, 2013.
According to the indictment, Youssef Abdelgawad, AKA Karim Abdelgawaf, who pleaded not guilty today in criminal court in Riverhead, is charged with manslaughter in the second degree for recklessly causing the death of Jazzmen Bryant of Roosevelt. Abdelgawad is also charged with criminally negligent homicide for causing the victim’s death with criminal negligence. The defendant was arrested on an indictment warrant on Sunday, March 2.
Bryant died of shotgun wounds in the back and in the back of the neck. The investigation found that Bryant, accompanied by four others, was shot in the defendant’s neighbor’s backyard, running away from the scene of an attempted burglary of 17 7th Avenue in Huntington Station where the defendant lives with his brother and parents.
Information developed during the investigation of Bryant’s death found the victim and others hid behind a metal shed in the backyard of the 17 Seventh Avenue address while an accomplice, armed with a pellet gun, approached a sliding door at the rear of the house. It was then a confrontation ensued with the defendant’s brother and two others.
When the men fled from the scene, Youssef Abdelgawad gave chase and fired twice at the group, mortally wounding Bryant as he and the others ran across an adjoining property. The fatal shots fired by Abdelgawad activated a Shotspotter alert and police arrived at the scene.
Abdelgawad pleaded guilty in 2011 to unlawfully fleeing a police officer and was sentenced to 60 days in the county jail. Other criminal charges were dismissed in satisfaction of Abdelgawad’s guilty plea, including two charges of marijuana possession, a charge of aggravated unlicensed driving arising from the defendant’s three or more driver’s license suspensions or revocations, and charges from Abdelgawad’s previous arrests that included sixteen vehicle and traffic law charges. Also dismissed was a charge of criminal personation for telling police his name was “Karim Abdelgawaf” during his arrest on New York Avenue on July 24, 2008 for marijuana possession.