Bloods member Floyd McNeil of Hempstead convicted in Freeport fatal shooting
Nassau County and Freeport police at Martin Luther King Jr. Park in Freeport on Nov. 28, 2020, after Taffarie Haughton, 21, was fatally shot and another man was injured. Credit: Stringer News Service
A jury found a Bloods gang member guilty of murder and attempted murder Monday for a 2020 shooting that killed a man in Freeport and wounded another person.
Floyd McNeil, 27, of Hempstead, was convicted after a nearly two-week trial of second-degree murder; second-degree attempted murder; first-degree attempted assault and two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, the Nassau County District Attorney's Office said in a news release.
McNeil is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 31 and faces up to 65 years to life in prison.
He is currently serving a sentence of 25 years in prison after being convicted in June 2022 of second-degree attempted murder; first-degree assault and several other charges for a 2019 shooting in Hempstead.
“Floyd McNeil is an exceptionally dangerous gang member who has left a trail of destruction in Hempstead and Freeport,” said Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly in the news release. “This defendant senselessly murdered a 21-year-old man, and nearly killed another, for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Our communities are undoubtedly safer now that McNeil has been found guilty of murder by a jury of his peers."
Donald Rollock, McNeil's Mineola-based defense attorney, said: "We're very disappointed with the verdict. Obviously, we are going to file an appeal because we believe there are a bunch of legal issues that came up during the trial that I think that appellate courts need to take a sharp look at."
On Nov. 28, 2020, Taffarie Haughton, 21, and a 19-year-old victim were followed into a bathroom at Martin Luther King Jr. Park in Freeport by several Bloods members who were attending a gang meeting in the park, prosecutors said.
When Haughton and the other victim attempted to leave the park, their exit was blocked by the gang members, including McNeil and his co-defendant, Christopher Anderson, who both opened fire, authorities said.
Haughton was struck twice, once in the chest, piercing his lung and heart, and once in the left foot, prosecutors said. He was pronounced dead at Nassau University Medical Center. The other victim was struck once in the shoulder and was treated for his injuries.
McNeil and Anderson were both arrested on June 13, 2022.
Anderson pleaded guilty in June to second-degree murder and second-degree attempted murder and was sentenced to 22 years to life in prison.
Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.
Updated now Newsday travel writer Scott Vogel took the ferry over to Block Island for a weekend of fun.
Updated now Newsday travel writer Scott Vogel took the ferry over to Block Island for a weekend of fun.
