In Long Island City, a 19-year-old teenager was sentenced to kill a teacher who was walking his dog.

The 19-year-old will spend nearly two decades behind bars for the 2020 murder of a schoolteacher who walked his dog in Queens in broad daylight, the local district attorney’s office said.

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Ike Ford was sentenced to 19 years in prison after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of a schoolteacher who was walking his dog when Ford shot a rival gang member in July 2020, when Ford was only 17 years old. old.

Teacher George Rose was hit in the stomach by a stray bullet fired by Ford. Although Ford was a minor at the time he was convicted as an adult, given the gravity of the crime, Katz said.

Ford of Long Island City pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and was subsequently sentenced to 19 years in prison, followed by five years’ supervision after his release.

Around 11:20 a.m. on July 25, 2020, Rosa, 53, was walking her dog in her Long Island City neighborhood along 40^th avenue between 21^st. and 22^th Streets. It was during this time that Ford, along with another alleged gang member, shot at a rival gang member, but missed his target and hit Rose instead.

Rosa was subsequently taken to a nearby hospital and succumbed to a gunshot wound 31 days later.

Ford was initially arrested in August 2020 after another shooting in which he was charged with shooting a gun in Queens. According to prosecutors, no one was hurt in the incident.

However, Ford was re-arrested in August 2021 along with other prominent gang members who were charged with crimes committed in Long Island City.

“The whole city mourned the senseless death of a beloved social studies teacher, George Rose, who was just walking his dog. It is in order to prevent such tragedies that we fight so hard to get illegal weapons and the criminals who use them on our streets,” Katz said.