Man Found Guilty of Killing Friend During Altercation

A New York jury has found a 45-year-old man guilty of second-degree murder after he fatally shot his “longtime friend” on Long Island, shouting “you wanna die?” during the incident.

James Brown, 45, is facing a sentence ranging from 40 years to life in prison for killing 45-year-old Umar Elquhir. His sentencing is scheduled for June 16, according to a press release from the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office. At approximately 9:30 p.m. on Nov. 7, 2023, several 911 calls were made reporting a man, later identified as Elquhir, lying on the ground with apparent gunshot wounds at the Poospatuck Reservation in Mastic. Paramedics transported him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead by doctors.

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Investigators learned the shooting happened next to Brown’s home. Surveillance footage from a smoke shop across the street showed Brown and Elquhir had been in a fistfight earlier in the night. Elquhir left, but returned in his car about two hours later and parked outside Brown’s home.

“When Brown came out of the home, he walked toward the victim’s car while repeatedly yelling, ‘You wanna die?’ before firing approximately nine shots into the vehicle,” prosecutors said.

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Several bullets hit Elquhir. He got out of his car but collapsed on the ground. Brown, meanwhile, walked back into his home. Cops lifted Brown’s palm print from the scene.

At trial, Brown testified he was scared for his life and fired in self-defense. In addition to murder, the jury also found him guilty of two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. He was convicted in 2012 of assault with a loaded weapon and served five years in prison.