A Brooklyn man was sentenced Dec. 17 to 25 years to life in prison for the murder of a Staten Island man, following his conviction of second-degree murder by a jury on Nov. 18, 2025.
According to Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, the defendant, 53-year-old Matthew Passaro, was walking on Atlantic Avenue in Boerum Hill on Sept. 20, 2017, when he encountered the victim, 47-year-old Stephen Vargas. Vargas was standing on the corner of Atlantic and Fourth avenues, not far from the Barclays Center. Passaro, who did not know Vargas, began yelling at him, and the two exchanged words.
Trial evidence showed that after the verbal confrontation, Passaro walked about a block and a half away, changed his clothes and returned to the busy intersection of Fourth and Atlantic avenues, where Vargas was still standing. At about 8:15 p.m., Passaro fired seven rounds at Vargas outside 578 Atlantic Ave., striking him six times, including in the spine, liver, kidneys, lungs and heart, instantly killing him.
Passaro fled the scene and was arrested by Port Authority police inside the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan on Nov. 1, 2017. Officers recovered a loaded .45-caliber pistol from him. A microscopic analysis of the gun and ballistic evidence from the scene determined it was the same weapon used to kill Vargas.
“Today’s sentence holds this defendant accountable for this incredibly callous shooting of an innocent man,” Gonzalez said in a statement. “Steven Vargas was a beloved brother and uncle who was violently and senselessly taken from his family and friends. And while gun violence is currently at record lows in Brooklyn thanks to the dedicated focus of law enforcement, my thoughts are with Mr. Vargas’ loved ones today as they continue to deal with this profound loss.”
The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Jhounelle Cunningham, of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau, and Assistant District Attorney Kaitlin Kinsella, of the District Attorney’s Blue Zone Trial Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Leila Rosini, chief of the Homicide Bureau.
