Father From Poughkeepsie Shot Dead In Front Of His Kids: Here's Killer's Sentence

Peekskill resident Reginald McClure was sentenced on Thursday, Nov. 7 to 30 years in state prison in connection with the shooting death of Dutchess County resident Ernest Wilson of Poughkeepsie in May 2023, the Westchester County District Attorney's Office announced on Tuesday, Nov 12.

According to the DA's Office, just after 7:30 p.m. on May 21, 2023, Wilson, age 53, had been dropping off his child with their mother, McClure's girlfriend, at her Peekskill home on Sherman Avenue. As Wilson went to greet McClure after seeing him walking up the street, McClure fired six rounds from a 9mm firearm in return.

Wilson was struck twice in the arm and buttock and was then taken to Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, where he died from his injuries days later on May 24, 2023. Wilson's two children saw the shooting. 

• Earlier Report - New Details: Child Saw Shooting That Left Father Dead In Northern Westchester, DA Says

After the shooting, McClure ran from the scene. He was eventually found and arrested at a hotel in Yonkers on May 25, 2023, following an investigation conducted by the Peekskill Police Department and the FBI’s Westchester Safe Streets Task Force. When he was apprehended, he was found with two loaded firearms that he was illegally possessing. 

McClure was sentenced to 25 years on the charge of first-degree manslaughter and five years for two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. 

During his court proceedings, one of Wilson's children read an impact statement, calling their father a "wonderful man." 

"Now I can never share another birthday with my birthday twin, I could never crack another joke with my father and...I can never watch our favorite Marvel movies again....You took the most valuable thing of my life...my father," the child continued. 

In a statement, Westchester District Attorney Miriam Rocah called the shooting a "brazen act of gun violence." 

"This defendant left children traumatized and without a father. Now that this defendant is removed from our streets and brought to justice, we hope the family of Ernest Wilson can begin to find closure and healing," Rocah continued. 

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