GOSHEN – A 31-year-old Bronx man is going to spend at least the next 58 ½ years in state prison for shooting Middletown City Police Officer Evan Barone on August 29, 2020.
On Wednesday, an Orange County Court jury found Desean Owens guilty of attempted murder, assault, criminal possession of a weapon and reckless endangerment in connection with the shooting on Myrtle Avenue in Middletown.
District Attorney David Hoovler stands behind the sentence.
“This case sends a clear message. If you shoot or injure the police in Orange County you are going to go to jail for a long time under my administration,” he said.
At trial prosecutors argued that Owens attempted to kill the officer by shooting him once with a 9 mm pistol.
Barone had been flagged down while on patrol by a man who said Owens was refusing to leave a house which he illegally entered.
The officer accompanied the man back to the house and as Owned emerged, he fired at Barone with the bullet passing through his left arm, permanently damaging a nerve and shattering a bone, and which then hit Barone in the chest area of his body armor.
Barone immediately fired back, hitting Owens before he could fire again.
Both Barone and Owens were treated for gunshot wounds.
Owens was also convicted of reckless endangerment because when he shot at the officer, behind him and in the path of the bullets was a car with children inside.
