Accused NYC murderer Sundance Oliver planned to shoot up precinct before surrender, prosecutors reveal
The career criminal accused in a multi-day crime spree that left two people dead in Brooklyn planned to shoot up a police precinct — before his pregnant girlfriend convinced him to turn himself in, prosecutors revealed Thursday.
The disturbing revelations were made at Sundance Oliver’s arraignment at Brooklyn Criminal Court where the 28-year-old was ordered held without bail on a slew of charges, including murder, attempted murder, attempted gang assault and attempted robbery.
Oliver, accused of killing two people and injuring an elderly, wheelchair-bound man in a Monday shooting spree, made the “spontaneous” confession to an officer the day after the killings, Manhattan prosecutor Ari Rottenberg said at the arraignment.
Prosecutors allege Oliver admitted that he planned to “come into the precinct and start shooting,” but changed his mind after his girlfriend “cried and begged me not to just turn himself in because she is pregnant.”
“You need to call my girl to thank her,” Oliver allegedly told the cop at Kings County Hospital Center, where he was taken for a psychiatric evaluation after his Tuesday surrender.
Oliver appeared disheveled in court as Rottenberg read out the various charges from multiple dockets. He wore his hair in two messy braids that came together into a bun at the back of his head.
A known gang member, Oliver is accused of shooting dead 21-year-old Kevon Langston inside a Lower Manhattan apartment and 17-year-old Keyaira Rattray-Brothers in Crown Heights.
Before the killings, Oliver allegedly shot a 96-year-old in the leg while the wheelchair-bound senior was waiting for a bus in Crown Heights and brandished his weapon during several robberies.
The NYPD launched a massive manhunt to find the “armed and extremely dangerous” man, which ceased when he turned himself into the 77th Precinct Tuesday morning. Footage shows Oliver walking into the building with his hands raised.
The lifelong criminal’s decision to surrender even surprised police, sources said.
Oliver has a long history of crime that accelerated in the weeks before the rampage, prosecutors said.
On Nov. 15 Oliver allegedly punched, threw a bottle at and “displayed a firearm” at the very girlfriend who convinced him to surrender peacefully. The two were arguing after Oliver stayed at an apartment without permission, though it’s not clear who the apartment belonged to.
Oliver robbed several people in the next two weeks, including a 14-year-old boy and a small grocery store worker, prosecutors said. In one instance, Oliver and three others reportedly punched and kicked a man before stealing his jacket, phone, wallet, sneakers and other property — all of which were valued at about $4,000.
The day before the killings, Oliver allegedly held a woman at gunpoint and demanded her money and jacket before telling her to drop her pants because “he wanted to see the complainant’s buttocks,” prosecutors said. The woman dropped her head just as Oliver allegedly fired a shot.
Oliver has denied all of the allegations, his court appointed attorney said at Thursday’s arraignment while requesting “reasonable bail.”
But Judge Dale Fong-Frederick denied the request and called Oliver “complete and total risk.”
“Facts alleged in the complaint, if true, taken together with Mr. Oliver’s decade-long criminal history, show someone who is at best unmoored from the requirements of society,” Fong-Frederick said. “It is not someone who would return to court if given the opportunity to have cash bail at whatever amount.”
Oliver will appear in court Dec. 9, 12 and 13 for all three separate cases.
