Mineola, N.Y. – Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced that a Roosevelt man was sentenced today to 27 years to life in prison for shooting a man to death during an attempted carjacking in Hempstead in July 2014.
Tayquan Clark, 24, was found guilty by a jury on October 14 before Acting Supreme Court Justice Terence Murphy to charges of:
• Murder in the 2nd Degree (an A-I felony)
• Two counts of Attempted Robbery in the 1st Degree (a C violent felony)
• Four counts of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the 2nd Degree (a C violent felony)
“This defendant shot and killed an innocent man as he attempted to steal his car,” DA Singas said. “This sentence ensures that this murderer will pay a heavy price for his despicable crime.”
DA Singas said that Shawn Boone was shot in the head and killed by Clark during an attempted carjacking at approximately 1:20 a.m. on July 5, 2014 on Princeton Street in Hempstead. Boone was sitting in a late-model BMW with his girlfriend at the time of the incident. After the shooting, Clark wiped down the inside of the vehicle to try and destroy any evidence.
Evidence was recovered during the investigation that included Clark’s fingerprints on the outside of the driver-side door of the car, video surveillance of the encounter and a ballistics match to a handgun that Clark used during the shooting. The surveillance video showed a man approaching the BMW, getting inside the vehicle and then running off.
The handgun – a Smith & Wesson snub-nose revolver that was reported stolen in 1971 – was linked to Clark when, on July 26, Hempstead Police officers responded to a report of Clark pointing the gun towards at least one person at a gathering in Hempstead. Clark ditched the gun in bushes and was almost immediately stopped by police, who recovered the gun and arrested Clark.
ADA Martin Meaney of DA Singas’ Major Offense Bureau is prosecuting the case. Clark is represented by Stephen Kunken, Esq. and Paul Langone, Esq.