Hempstead man sentenced to 35 years to life for 2019 drive-by killing
The defendant was convicted of murder and weapons charges in fatal shooting at a Hempstead intersection.
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A Hempstead man was sentenced Thursday to 35 years to life in prison for a 2019 drive-by shooting that killed a 36-year-old man who was sitting at a red light, Nassau County prosecutors said.
Taiquan Cullum, 35, also known as "Tay Tay," was convicted in June 2025 following a jury trial of second-degree murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in connection with the killing of Paul LaRue.
The shooting occurred early on July 28, 2019, hours after Cullum survived an attempted shooting outside D'Ambiance Bar in Baldwin, according to prosecutors.
Authorities said Cullum was shot at seven times just before 2 a.m. by Jermaine Grant following what was described as a dispute involving Cullum and associates of Grant. Cullum was not injured.
Afterward, prosecutors said Cullum returned to Hempstead, got a gun and picked up co-defendant Deion Barros to help locate the person responsible for the earlier shooting.
As the two men drove through Hempstead, they came upon LaRue, a friend of Grant who had also been at the Baldwin bar but was not involved in the earlier gunfire, prosecutors said.
LaRue was sitting inside his Mercedes-Benz at a red light at the intersection of Clinton Street and Fulton Avenue when Cullum and Barros pulled alongside him and fired three shots, hitting and killing him, according to authorities. The defendants then fled the scene.
"This defendant's indiscriminate violence had heartbreaking consequences," Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said in a statement.
Grant was arrested later that morning and was ultimately convicted in October 2022 of attempted second-degree murder and weapons possession charges stemming from the earlier shooting. He was sentenced in December 2022 to 20 years in prison.
Cullum was arrested on Aug. 22, 2023, while incarcerated at the Otisville Correctional Facility in Orange County, New York, where he was being held on an unrelated matter. He was charged by Nassau County Police Department homicide detectives.
The case against Barros, 29, remains pending.
