Gang member sentenced to 15 years to life for Lower East Side killing that sparked double murder

A 20-year-old pack subordinate was sentenced to 15 years to beingness successful situation Friday for a Lower East Side execution a authoritative said sparked disconnected a concatenation of violence that resulted successful 2 much grisly deaths and ruined aggregate lives “based connected nothing.”

Zymir Humphrey received the agreed-upon word aft pleading blameworthy to second-degree execution successful November for fatally shooting Brandon Atkinson successful the backmost of the caput astatine a deli connected Ave. D adjacent E. Third St. connected May 15, 2022. 

Atkinson’s sidesplitting stemmed from tensions betwixt 2 Lower East Side gangs separated by a tiny “hill” successful the roadworthy connected Grand St. adjacent Madison St. Humphrey was a subordinate of Up The Hill, and Atkinson’s brothers were members of Down The Hill, the Daily News antecedently reported.

Humphrey targeted Atkinson aft Nikki Huang, a 23-year-old pistillate who had served nutrient to members of some crews astatine her family’s Chinese restaurant, Wa Lung Kitchen, connected the gangs’ dividing line, was mugged of her handbag and reported it to members of Up The Hill. 

Obtained by Daily News

Brandon Atkinson’s execution sparked disconnected a concatenation of unit ending successful the killings of Nikki Huang, 23, and Jesse Parrilla, 22. (pictured) (Obtained by Daily News)

In retaliation for Atkinson’s killing, members of Down The Hill kidnapped Huang, 23, and a person who she’d been hanging retired with that night, Jesse Parrilla, 35, according to authorities. Both were recovered burned beyond designation successful a car by the Pelham Split Rock Golf Course successful the Bronx the adjacent day.  

Police antecedently said Huang and her friend, killed arsenic collateral damage, were changeable earlier they were torched — truthful thoroughly that Parrilla had to beryllium identified done dental records.

Zymir Humphrey appears astatine his sentencing for the May 15, 2022, shooting decease of Brandon Atkinson, 20, astatine Avenue D and E. Third St. successful the East Village successful Manhattan Supreme CourtFriday, Jan. 24, 2025 successful Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams / New York Daily News)

Three suspects person been charged successful transportation to Huang and Parrilla’s killings, and authorities are inactive searching for a fourth. Three different radical were changeable passim the chaotic nighttime and survived. 

Humphrey was located astir a period aft Atkinson’s sidesplitting adjacent Shasta Lane successful Martinsburg, W. Virginia by the U.S. Marshals Mountain State Fugitive Task Force, taken into custody, and extradited to New York. 

The beforehand leafage of the Daily News for June 20, 2022.

In tribunal Friday, Assistant District Attorney Andrew Mercer said Atkinson, 21, had thing to bash with the robbery of Huang’s handbag.

He said the lawsuit illuminated the “senselessness” of pack violence, remarking connected “the insanity of it each and however galore young lives were wasted based connected nothing.”

Humphrey, wearing a beige situation outfit, was seen smiling successful tribunal and craning his cervix to spot who was seated successful the mostly bare gallery. He expressed nary remorse for Atkinson’s sidesplitting but apologized to the families of Huang and Parrilla.

“I would similar to apologize to Nikki Huang’s household due to the fact that successful each reality, she didn’t person thing to bash with [any] of this,” Humphrey said. “Jesse’s household also.”

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Abraham Clott told Humphrey the severity of the beingness word “speaks for itself.” He denied a petition from his lawyer to waive a tribunal surcharge interest based connected his inability to pay, saying Humphrey was “able bodied” and could enactment to wage it disconnected successful prison.

Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Daily News; Obtained by Daily News

Brandon Atkinson (inset) was fatally changeable connected E. 3rd St. and Avenue D connected May 15, 2022. (Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Daily News; Obtained by Daily News)

“Zymir Humphrey changeable and killed Brandon Atkinson successful a cruel and vicious enactment of weapon violence,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said successful a statement. “Senseless cycles of retribution proceed to substance weapon unit that destabilizes our communities and, acold excessively often, results successful the deaths of young New Yorkers. “

Before leaving the courtroom to caput upstate to statesman his term, Humphrey shouted to an subordinate to “smoke that weed.”