Elmont man sentenced to 25 years for Hempstead shooting that paralyzed a young man

A 2018 shooting in Hempstead left a young man a quadriplegic. Wednesday, an Elmont man accused of the crime was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Almost five years after the shooting, 36-year-old Carlos Spielfogel-Lopez was convicted of attempted second-degree murder and first-degree assault on May 17. Judge Terence Murphy sentenced him on Sept. 6.

On Nov. 4, 2018, just before 3 a.m., the victim had a gun pressed to his right ear as Spielfogel-Lopez demanded “the stuff.” Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said Spielfogel-Lopez believed that the victim had stolen from his car several days before.

“Carlos Spielfogel-Lopez pointed a loaded gun at a young man’s head and pulled the trigger, severing the victim’s spine and confining the victim to a wheelchair for the rest of his life,” Donnelly said.

The victim had just returned to his friend’s Jeep Cherokee after a night at El Pacifico bar. They were parked nearby at a Goodyear Tires location at 101 N. Franklin Street in Hempstead.

The car was blocked into the space by Spielfogel-Lopez’ Dodge Durango, Donnelly said. He approached and opened the front passenger seat door, and made his demand with a gun pressed against the victim.

Seconds later, he fired his weapon, striking the victim in his right ear. Donnelly said Spielfogel-Lopez got back into the Durango and drove away.

Friends brought the victim to Mercy Hospital after the shooting. There, it was determined that the young man would become paralyzed below the neck after the gunshot wound severed his spinal cord.

Donelly said Spielfogel-Lopez fled the country immediately following the shooting.

In Worcester, Massachusetts, local authorities arrested the Spielfogel-Lopez on an unrelated charge on Nov. 30, 2018 and received a three-year jail sentence.

The Nassau police department’s Third Precinct Squad arrested Spielfogel-Lopez immediately upon his release from a Massachusetts prison on Nov. 3, 2021.

Vernoica Guariglia, deputy bureau chief of the homicide bureau, is prosecuting the case. Jeff Groder of Mineola is representing Spielfogel-Lopez.