NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – A Long Island man was sentenced to seven years in prison on Friday for a February 2022 incident in which he pointed a loaded gun at his wife and 2-year-old child in a Queens children's hospital, threatening to kill her in front of everyone present, the Queens District Attorney’s Office said.
Thomas Saxton, 36, pleaded guilty in October to second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, and was sentenced on Friday to seven years in prison and four years post-release supervision, prosecutors said.
Just after noon on Feb. 17, 2022, Saxton arrived at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in Glen Oaks, where he was to pick up his 37-year-old wife and 2-year-old child who had just had surgery.
Prosecutors said that Saxton confronted his wife, who was holding their child, and said “in sum and substance” that he would kill her there.
Saxton’s wife yelled for help, prompting him to ditch the gun and flee.
He called her minutes later, and while on speaker phone with hospital staff present, threatened to kill her in her sleep, officials said.
Police were notified of the threats, and responding officers found Saxton sitting in his car in the parking lot of the hospital, with both a 9 mm and 10 mm pistol, ammunition for both guns, a loaded magazine and a bag of cocaine.
Saxton was arrested on the scene.
“Armed and angry, the defendant turned a place of healing and hope into one of fear and despair,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. “Families need to trust that a children’s hospital is a safe haven. We will not relent in our efforts to get illegal guns and those who use them off our streets.”
Law enforcement found additional guns at Saxton’s home on Bailey Avenue in East Rockaway, for which he is being prosecuted by the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office.
At the time, the NYPD posted photos on X of additional guns, ammunition, magazines and ballistic vests found on the scene.