A Long Island man was sentenced on Friday to 25 years to life for the 2023 murder of a 33-year-old father, who was shot six times during an altercation outside a housing complex in Long Beach.
Ronnie Sutton, 52, was riding his bike through the Sycamore Court parking lot in the Channel Park Homes on the night of April 7, 2023, when he passed by the victim, Shawn Usher, with whom he often clashed, prosecutors said.
After the two got into a verbal fight in the parking lot, Sutton pulled a gun out of his jacket and fired at Usher, who then “ran for his life” while Sutton “chased him down,” according to Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly.
Sutton fired six rounds at the victim — striking him five times, prosecutors said. When Usher fell to the ground, Sutton pistol-whipped him in the head.
Usher, the father of 9-year-old twin boys, was taken to Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital in Long Beach, where he was pronounced dead later that night. Investigators said one shot pierced his lung and heart.
Following the shooting, Sutton fled the scene on his bike, then hid the weapon in a bush by a nearby house. However, members of the Long Beach Police Department recovered the gun a few days after.
Sutton was arrested by Nassau County police less than two weeks later, and arraigned on the same day as Usher’s funeral, ABC NY reported at the time.
In August 2025, a jury convicted Sutton of second-degree murder. He’d previously been convicted on weapon charges in connection with the same incident.
The two men were frequently seen arguing and fighting at the Long Beach housing complex, and the violent encounter was the result of a long-running feud, authorities said.
“What this defendant did was beyond comprehension,” Donnelly said Friday when announcing the sentence. “Ronnie Sutton’s wanton violence and complete disregard for human life has no place on the streets of Nassau County.”
