Man Gets 22 Years To Life For Shooting Teen, Dog In Coney Island

The Coney Island man convicted for the 2013 Christmas Eve shooting that killed a teen and wounded his dog has been sentenced to 22 years to life in prison, the Brooklyn District Attorney announced.

The murder allegedly stemmed from a weeks-long argument on social media between the defendant, 20-year-old Jerome Leslie, and 17-year-old Yaquin English. The dispute was related to Leslie’s relationship with English’s cousin. A witness testified Leslie threatened to kill English during the online correspondence, according to the DA’s office.

“This defendant murdered a teenager over an argument they had on social media. Anyone who thinks it is acceptable to commit such a senseless act of violence deserves to spend many years behind bars to think about what they did,” Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson said in a statement.

Prosecutors said Leslie stalked his victim to his apartment building across the street from Kaiser Park. When English returned from walking his pitt bull, he was shot seven times. The dog was wounded in the paw.

Leslie was arrested less than two months after the shooting while he was in jail for marijuana charges, according to the New York Post. He reportedly confessed to the shooting while in police custody.