CROWN HEIGHTS – A CROWN HEIGHTS MAN was sentenced to 15 to life on Tuesday for the fatal 2020 shooting of a father of two in Lincoln Terrace Park, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced. Defendant Gucci Morris, 21, was convicted of second-degree murder on Oct. 30, 2025.
At around 5 p.m. on Aug. 9, 2020, victim Christopher Ross, 53, arrived at the park to play handball. At around the same time, Morris, wearing dark clothing and carrying a loaded gun, also entered the park, along with a group of friends. This group then became engaged in a physical altercation with another group on one of the park’s walkways, nearby the handball courts.
According to the evidence, Morris pulled his gun and fired multiple shots. One of the bullets passed through the handball court’s fence and struck Ross in the left eyebrow, piercing his brain. The shooting caused panic throughout the crowded park. In the chaos, Morris fled. Ross was pronounced dead at the scene.
Morris then altered his appearance to avoid arrest, the DA said. Following an investigation that included eyewitness accounts and identifications, surveillance footage tracking Morris before and after the shooting, and a search of his phones, Morris was arrested on Feb. 9, 2022.
✰✰✰
