Sept. 3, 2021 -- Westchester County District Attorney Miriam E. Rocah announced that 17-year-old Jamir Thompson was sentenced on Thursday for the 2019 shooting death of a Yonkers teen who was simply walking with her younger sister on the street.

Thompson, of Yonkers, has been sentenced to nine years to life in state prison. Thompson pled guilty on July 8 to Murder in the Second Degree, a felony, for the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Marilyn Cotto-Montanez.

On April 25, 2019, at approximately 6:30 p.m., Thompson, who was 15 at the time, fired his gun at another male but instead fatally shot Cotto-Montanez, an innocent bystander, in the head, as she walked on Morningside Avenue in Yonkers with her nine-year-old sister. Thompson fled the scene but Yonkers Police identified him as the suspect after interviewing witnesses and reviewing surveillance videos.

Thompson surrendered himself to Yonkers Police on May 7, 2019, and was arrested. 

“It is absolutely tragic that Marilyn Cotto-Montanez lost her life while doing something as simple as walking with her sibling and horrific that her younger sister had to witness this. Our hearts go out to their family,” DA Rocah said. “In her honor, and in the name of countless other victims of gun violence, we will continue to fight to eliminate illegal guns and gun violence in our community and to bring solace to victims and their families through accountability when events like this happen.”

The case was before Judge Helen Blackwood in Westchester Family Court and was prosecuted by Deputy Bureau Chief Daniel Flecha and Assistant District Attorney Catalina Blanco Buitrago.

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Jess Vecchiarelli, Director of Communications
(914) 995-3586
jvecchiarelli@westchesterda.net