Dashawn Wade shot Daquan Gaskins outside Club in Baldwin
MINEOLA, N.Y. – Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced that a Far Rockaway man was sentenced today to 19 years in prison for killing a Maryland prison guard outside a Baldwin club in August 2014.
Dashawn Wade, 24, pleaded guilty before Acting Supreme Court Justice Christopher Quinn to manslaughter in the 1st degree (a B violent felony) on Oct. 27.
“This defendant killed a 22-year old man over a petty disagreement at a nightclub,” DA Singas said. “Daquan Gaskins had started a career as a prison guard in Maryland and his promising life was cut short due to this defendant’s heinous actions. I hope that this sentence will help his family in the grieving process.”
DA Singas said that on August 2, 2014, at approximately 3:40 a.m. Wade and several friends became involved in a physical altercation with Daquan Gaskins and the victim’s cousin outside the Love Jones Café in Baldwin.
After a fight broke out, Wade retrieved a .38 caliber revolver from a white SUV that was parked a block away. Wade returned to the club and shot Gaskins once in the chest.
The 22-year old victim was transported to South Nassau Community Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Wade, who did not know Gaskins before that night, fled the area driving northbound on Grand Avenue with co-defendant Lyreil Moore. The defendant spent the next month on the run and was subsequently arrested by members of the Nassau County Police Department on Sept. 4, 2014.
Gaskins, originally from Hempstead, worked as guard in a juvenile prison in Maryland.
Moore pleaded guilty on Nov. 15 to hindering prosecution in the 1st degree (a D felony) and is due back for sentencing on Jan. 18.
Assistant District Attorney Ali Ajamu of the Major Offense Bureau prosecuted the case. Wade is represented by John Healy, Esq.