STATEN ISLAND — A man was found guilty for fatally gunning down two brothers outside a gas station in 2015, prosecutors said.
A jury convicted Wayne Thomas, 32, for murder Friday during his two-week retrial for the deaths of Terrell Ford, 27, and Justin Ford, 28, in 2015, District Attorney Michael McMahon announced.
Thomas' first trial for the deaths was declared a mistrial after a jury could not come up to a unanimous decision.
“The lives of two brothers ended in tragedy due to this defendant’s violent actions," McMahon said in a statement. "Senseless gun violence has no place in our community and my office will continue to put criminals who endanger the lives of Staten Islanders behind bars."
On Oct. 4, 2015, a fight broke out in an after-hours club on Hillside Avenue then moved to the gas station on Targee Street and Vanderbilt Avenue in Clifton, the New York Times reported.
Terrell Ford followed to try to ease tensions and his brother, who just finished work, rushed across the street to help, according to prosecutors and the Times.
(YouTube/Launchymusic Cartatv)
During the fight, Thomas took out a 9mm gun and fired at least three shots at the brothers blocks away from their home, prosecutors said. Terrell Ford was hit in the torso and taken to Richmond University Medical Center where he was pronounced dead, police said.
Justin Ford was shot in the back and taken to Staten Island University Hospital North and pronounced dead.
Justin Ford rapped under the name SL Blicky and wrote songs about growing up in the borough.
Thomas, an ex-con then out on parole, was arrested four days later and charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon for their deaths.
The trial ended in a mistrial Nov. 14, 2016 after seven days of deliberations when a jury could not come to a unanimous decision, the DA said.
For the conviction, Thomas faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole when he's sentenced on Aug. 2, prosecutors said.
