NEW YORK — The lookout man in a botched Queens robbery where a veteran New York Police Department detective died from friendly fire was sentenced Thursday to 30 years to life on a felony murder conviction.
Jagger Freeman, 28, didn’t pull the trigger on Feb. 12, 2019, when his partner in crime sparked a deadly fusillade of bullets by pointing a fake gun at officers responding to the a T-Mobile store heist in Richmond Hills.
Detective Brian Simonson, 42, was fatally shot in the chest by a colleague when the gunfire started.
“The defendant orchestrated a string of robberies, the last of which involved an imitation weapon and led to the tragic death of Detective Brian Simonson,” said Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz. “He will now serve a lengthy time in prison as punishment for his criminal actions.”
Freeman faced up to 40 years behind bars under New York’s felony murder charge, where any participant in a violent felony is responsible for the resulting deaths. The defendant, who was also convicted of another phone store robbery four days earlier, received an additional five years of post-release supervision.
The 42-year-old Simonson was fatally shot in the chest while Sgt. Matthew Gorman was hit in the leg. Would-be robber Christopher Ransom was sentenced to 33 years in jail last November after pleading guilty to aggravated manslaughter and robbery.
Ransom was inside the store when police arrived around 6 p.m., shortly after he ordered a pair of employees to turn over cash and merchandise kept in the back of the store.
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