(SUFFOLK COUNTY, N.Y.) – Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced that 43-year-old Robert Oliver was sentenced to 12 years in prison and five years of post-release supervision and after pleading guilty in February to charges that include Kidnapping in the Second Degree and two counts of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree.
“The message in Suffolk County is clear – if you use a gun unlawfully against another person, your case will be investigated, you will be prosecuted and you will serve a significant sentence,” said District Attorney Tierney. “Here, a prior felony offender fired shots into multiple homes, terrorizing the community over a period of months. One of the bullets missed a three-year-old boy by inches. Children should not have to go to bed worried that their sleep will be interrupted by gunfire. The jail sentence here is well deserved.”
Oliver, was also sentenced concurrently to:
3 ½ to 7 years on each of two counts of Reckless Endangerment in the First Degree;
2 to 4 years on one count of Unlawful Imprisonment in the First Degree;
1 year on one count of Aggravated Harassment in the Second Degree; and
1 year on each of four counts of Endangering the Welfare of a Child.
On November 14, 2020, the defendant shot multiple bullets into a home which he knew contained four children and two adults. One of the bullets missed a three-year-old boy by inches and lodged in a kitchen stove.
Oliver had come to the residence earlier in the day looking for a resident’s uncle who did not live in the home. He was seen minutes before the crime on video surveillance waving a gun around at a deli, where he was looking for that same individual. Expended casings were recovered from that crime scene.
Thereafter, on January 8, 2021, the defendant forced a friend of his at gunpoint to drive him to a home in Bay Shore where he shot at multiple homes, narrowly missing a resident of a home and shooting into cars outside of a second home. Expended casings were also recovered from that crime scene. A Smith & Wesson .9 mm caliber pistol was recovered from a cellar in the defendant’s home and the expended casings from both crime scenes were determined to have been fired from that firearm.
Oliver was sentenced before the Honorable Timothy P. Mazzei. He was represented by George Duncan, Esq.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Sheetal Shetty of the Major Crime Bureau.