CONEY ISLAND, NY – A Coney Island amusement park worker has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for attempted murder after shooting his colleague in the chest during a dispute over game booth profits. Joseph Colon, 38, ambushed his rival on the night of September 10, 2021, at Luna Park’s Jumbo Prizes game booth. He fired at the victim when he arrived for his shift around 8 p.m., according to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.
Following the shooting, Colon briefly chased the wounded man before fleeing down a street and discarding his camouflage hoodie in a garbage can near Nathan’s Famous. The victim, aged 38, collapsed and was rushed to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn, where he received treatment for a broken rib, a collapsed lung, a lacerated liver, and severe blood loss.
The conflict leading to the shooting had been ongoing for a week, revolving around customers and profits at the game booth, prosecutors revealed. After the incident, Colon fled to Temple, Pennsylvania, but was eventually tracked down and apprehended by the US Marshals and NYPD’s Regional Fugitive Task Force, who brought him back to New York to face charges.
Colon, a resident of Coney Island, was convicted in May on multiple charges. These charges include attempted murder, criminal use of a firearm, criminal possession of a weapon, as well as reckless endangerment.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez praised the sentencing, stating, “This shooting at Coney Island’s Luna Park was an outrageous act of violence that nearly killed a man and put many more people in harm’s way. Gun crime will not be tolerated in Brooklyn, and today’s sentence ensures that the defendant has been held accountable for his deplorable actions.”