STATEN ISLAND — A man who had been on Staten Island's "most wanted" list has been sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for fatally shooting his teenage friend.
Mark Ortiz, 22, was sent to prison by Judge Mario Mattei Wednesday for the 2015 murder of Barry Lovelace, 17, inside a West Brighton apartment, prosecutors said.
"This defendant fatally shot his own friend in a brutal act of gun violence," Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon said in a statement.
"Now he will spend 30 years to life behind bars for his heartless crime. Our thoughts and prayers remain with the victim's family."
On Feb. 16, 2015, Ortiz fired four rounds with a semi-automatic pistol at Lovelace, who was sitting on a couch inside an apartment at 806 Henderson Ave., prosecutors said. Ortiz then fled from the apartment.
A witness told officers Ortiz was in the apartment right before the shooting, and Lovelace identified him as the killer just before he died, prosecutors said.
Weeks after the shooting, the DA's office put Ortiz on its "most wanted" list. He was eventually arrested in March 2015.
Ortiz was found guilty of murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon after a week-long jury trial in November, McMahon said.
He was sentenced by Mattei to 22 years to life for the murder charge, eight years for one of the weapons charges and five years for the other.
The two weapons charges will run concurrently with each other and the murder sentence will run consecutively, McMahon added.
