NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — A Brooklyn man on Tuesday pleaded guilty to fatally shooting his estranged wife in 2017 and attacking her cousin, who attempted to protect her.
Gabino Genao, 34, of Sheepshead Bay, was charged with second-degree murder, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, first-degree reckless endangerment and third-degree assault.
According to Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, Genao shot his estranged wife, Iveliss Alvarado, multiple times in the head on May 26, 2017 around 11:15 p.m. in front of a home on West 36th Street in the Sea Gate neighborhood.
The couple was not living together at the time of the incident, Gonzalez said, and Alvarado was celebrating at a family reunion before the attack.
An unidentified female cousin of the victim had witnessed Genao punching Alvarado sometime before the shooting and intervened to try to protect her, Gonzalez said.
The cousin suffered multiple bruises when Genao punched her as well, officials said. Genao then opened fire.
Investigators said Genao was heard saying, “I killed her,” after the shooting, before he fled the scene.
Authorities said he left the state and was apprehended in Delaware on June 2, 2017.
“This is a tragic case of domestic violence in which the mother of two young children was senselessly killed,” DA Gonzalez said. “The defendant has now accepted responsibility for his actions and will spend many years in prison as a result. My condolences go out to the family of Iveliss Alvarado, especially her children, for their tremendous loss.”
Genao is expected to be sentenced to 20 years to life in prison on Feb. 15, 2022.
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