Bronx Man Tried To Kill Middletown Police Officer Near Children

A Bronx man was found guilty of trying to murder a cop in the Hudson Valley.

On Friday, Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced that 31-year-old Desean Owens of the Bronx was found guilty by a jury in Orange County Court of crimes including attempted murder in the first degree, for the August 29, 2020 shooting of City of Middletown Police Officer Evan Barone.

“Desean Owens tried to kill a police officer merely because he was a police officer, and likely to avoid getting arrested for a parole violation,” Hoovler said. “This defendant turned down a reasonable plea offer and claimed he was innocent despite that overwhelming evidence of his guilt."

The jury also found Owens guilty of aggravated assault, assault, criminal possession of a weapon, reckless endangerment, and criminal trespass.

On August 29, on Myrtle Avenue in Middletown, Owens attempted to kill a City of Middletown cop, by shooting him with a 9 mm. pistol

Officer Barone was flagged down by a man who stated that Owens was refusing to leave a house that he had illegally entered. The police officer accompanied the man to the residence. When Owens emerged from the residence, he fired a bullet from a 9 mm pistol at Barone, which passed through the officer’s left arm, permanently damaging a nerve and shattering a bone.

Barone immediately fired back, hitting the defendant before he could fire again. Both were treated for gunshot wounds.

The charge of reckless endangerment alleges when Owens fired his pistol it was pointed not only in the direction of the police officer but also at a number of civilians, including several children, who were in a car near where the police were standing.

The charge of criminal trespass alleges Owens knowingly entered and remained unlawfully in a residence on Myrtle Avenue armed with the 9 mm pistol and had refused several orders by the resident to leave the house.

"He has shown absolutely no remorse for either his actions in shooting the police officer or endangering the children who were dangerously within his line of fire. Police Officer Barone was grievously injured in the line of duty, and he heroically prevented this defendant from further injuring him, and others by his fast action in eliminating the threat to life caused by this defendant’s depraved actions. We will be recommending that he be sentenced to the maximum sentence authorized by law," Hoovler added.

Owens faces up to 40 years to life in prison when he is sentenced on July 27, 2022.