QUEENS, NY – Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced yesterday that Melvin Adams, 45, of Barnes Avenue in the Bronx, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for opening fire on a busy thoroughfare with the intention of hitting a stranger.
Instead, Adams shot at an MTA bus and struck two passengers. Adams was convicted by a jury in March of attempted murder in the second degree, assault in the first and second degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the second and third degree, and reckless endangerment in the first degree. Queens Supreme Court Justice Gary Miret handed down the sentence.
According to the charges, on August 5, 2021, at approximately 8:55 a.m., Adams walked past a 25-year-old man whom he did not know on Jamaica Avenue near 148th Street. Believing that the pedestrian had looked at him, Adams approached the man, pulled out an illegal .40 caliber pistol from his backpack, and fired three shots at his back.
Adams missed his intended target, instead shooting through the windshield of an MTA Q8 bus that was stopped nearby.
A bullet pierced the bus windshield, grazing a 66-year-old passenger and causing him physical injuries. A second passenger on the bus, a 20-year-old man, was struck by the same bullet in his arm, shattering his humerus bone and causing excruciating pain and serious physical injury. Both victims were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
The 66-year-old sustained a laceration to his shoulder, and shards of glass were removed from his body.
The 20-year-old required reconstructive orthopedic surgery to remove bullet fragments and repair his arm with a 10-inch metal plate and screws.
A police officer witnessed the shooting and reported the incident. Adams was arrested a block from the scene within minutes of the shooting in possession of a backpack containing the .40 caliber Smith & Wesson handgun used in the shooting. The handgun was loaded with one round in the chamber and 11 rounds of ammunition in an unlawful high-capacity magazine. A second illegal high-capacity magazine with an additional 15 rounds of ammunition was also recovered from the backpack.