OLD TOWN — A man was sentenced to 16 years in prison for the fatal shooting of a woman during a robbery attempt at a Staten Island motel, authorities said.
Carl October, 27, of Canarsie, was sentenced Thursday after he previously pleaded guilty to attempted murder for the death of Michelle Hernandez Vasquez, 21, inside the Cosmopolitan Hotel last year, Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon said.
On April 4, 2015, Vasquez was working as a prostitute inside the former Cosmopolitan Hotel at 1274 Hylan Blvd., when Derekson Lett, 27, went into her room at about 3:20 a.m. posing as a customer, a law enforcement source said.
Lett was trying to rob Vasquez when her pimp hit him in the head with a bottle of Hennessy and then Vasquez attacked him, according to police and the source.
During the struggle, Lett called out to October — who was waiting outside with a gun — to shoot and he fired two shots through the hotel room door, hitting Vasquez in the back of the head, the source said.
Vasquez was taken to Staten Island University Hospital in critical condition and died from her injuries the next day, police said.
"These defendants committed a violent armed robbery that resulted in the tragic loss of life and our thoughts and prayers remain with the victim's family," McMahon said in a statement.
Vasquez's mother, Marisol Hernandez, said at the time her daughter never worked as a prostitute.
"She was very strong willed," Hernandez previously told DNAinfo New York.
"I'm not sure of what she was doing, I do know that she wasn't a prostitute."
October and Vasquez fled the scene and were later arrested by police.
The pair also robbed another person at gunpoint about 20 minutes before the shooting inside a room of the Staten Island Motor Inn Lodge at 481 Hylan Blvd., prosecutors said.
Lett previously pleaded guilty to robbery for his role in the crime and was sentenced to 11 years in prison, McMahon said.
"With these sentences, Mr. Lett and Mr. October will both be held responsible for the pain they have caused through their heartless and ruinous actions, and Staten Island will be much safer with them behind bars," McMahon said in a statement.
