Riverhead Man Gets 25 Years for Murder

A Riverhead man was sentenced Thursday to 25 years to life in prison for fatally shooting a 37-year-old man two years ago, when Suffolk County prosecutors said an argument involving the girlfriends of the shooter and the victim escalated.

A jury had found Michael Gilbert, 29, guilty of second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon in the death of Tyrell Durham following a trial in September at Suffolk County court.

“What started out as a verbal argument escalated to murder,” said Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney. “We  hope that this lengthy prison sentence provides some measure of justice for Tyrell’s family and  friends, all of whom still mourn his tragic loss.”

Prosecutors said Gilbert overheard a phone call in which Durham yelled at Gilbert’s girlfriend, Lashonda Coles, who was friends with a woman Durham was dating, on November 26, 2021. When the argument got heated, Gilbert challenged Durham, authorities said.

Gilbert then shot at Durham with a .22 caliber semiautomatic handgun six times, striking him three times, outside of the victim’s home in Moriches, according to investigators.

The victim died an hour later at Long Island Community Hospital in East  Patchogue. Gilbert surrendered to Suffolk police five days later.

Eyewitness testimony, forensics evidence and DNA from a sandal that the shooter left at the scene led to his conviction.