Coney Island

Ex-Coney Island amusement park worker sentenced for shooting co-worker over customers, profits

What to Know

  • An ex-Coney Island amusement park worker will spend more than a decade behind bars after being sentenced for shooting a co-worker in the chest in an ongoing dispute over customers and profits at a game booth, the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office announced.
  • Joseph Colon, 38, was sentenced Wednesday to 13 years in prison and five years' post-release supervision after being convicted of second-degree attempted murder, first-degree criminal use of a firearm, first-degree reckless endangerment, and two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon on May 31.
  • The district attorney's office -- citing the evidence -- said that both Colon and the victim, a 38-year-old man, worked at the Jumbo Prizes game booth at Coney Island’s Luna Park. In the week prior to the shooting, the two had argued over customers and profits.

An ex-Coney Island amusement park worker will spend more than a decade behind bars after being sentenced for shooting a co-worker in the chest in an ongoing dispute over customers and profits at a game booth, the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office announced.

Joseph Colon, 38, was sentenced Wednesday to 13 years in prison and five years' post-release supervision after being convicted of second-degree attempted murder, first-degree criminal use of a firearm, first-degree reckless endangerment, and two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon on May 31.

“This shooting at Coney Island’s Luna Park was an outrageous act of violence that nearly killed a man and put many more people in harm’s way,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said.

The district attorney's office -- citing the evidence -- said that both Colon and the victim, a 38-year-old man, worked at the Jumbo Prizes game booth at Coney Island’s Luna Park. In the week prior to the shooting, the two had argued over customers and profits.

On Sept. 10, 2021, at around 8 p.m., Colon was working at Jumbo Prizes when the victim arrived for work, the district attorney's office said, adding theat Colon saw that the other man was unarmed, and "then took a tactical position behind the booth, drawing an unlicensed handgun and firing a single shot at the victim, who was struck in the chest."

The victim was taken to NYU Langone Brooklyn where he was treated for a gunshot wound to the chest, a broken rib, a collapsed lung, a lacerated liver, and severe loss of blood, the district attorney's office said. He was hospitalized for around a week before being released.

According to the evidence, Colon was then seen on surveillance video removing his camouflage hoodie before walking into Nathan’s Famous where he tossed it in the garbage. The hoodie was recovered and tested for DNA that matched Colon, who got into a vehicle and was taken to his apartment on 25th Street and from there he fled to Temple, Pennsylvania, where a relative lived.

He was eventually extradited back to New York by the United States Marshals Service and the NYPD’s Regional Fugitive Task Force.

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