A late-night card game in a Hempstead parking lot ended with one man dead and another headed to prison for 25 years, authorities said.
Prosecutors say Kane Moore, 32, shot and killed his friend, 39-year-old Maurice Sinclair Thomas, in the rear parking lot of a Yale Street building on September 21, 2024, then fled the scene. Moore was arrested a month later in Detroit and extradited back to Nassau County, where he ultimately pleaded guilty earlier this year.
Prosecutors hail sentence
Moore was sentenced on Friday, June 5, to 25 years in prison, according to reporting by Long Island Life & Politics. Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly called the killing a “senseless act of violence and anger,” saying a disagreement between friends “ended in bloodshed when Kane Moore shot and killed Maurice Sinclair,” according to the Nassau County District Attorney's Office.
What prosecutors say happened
Officials say Moore and Thomas were playing cards in the rear parking lot of 134 Yale Street in Hempstead on September 21, 2024, when an argument broke out. As tempers flared, Moore allegedly pulled a semi-automatic handgun and shot Thomas once on his left side.
Thomas was rushed to NYU Langone Long Island Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1:37 a.m., according to the Nassau County District Attorney's Office. Moore ran from the scene, prosecutors say, and was later tracked to Detroit, where he was arrested on October 21, 2024, then extradited to Nassau County on October 31.
Plea and charges
Moore pleaded guilty on January 6, 2026, to manslaughter in the first degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, according to LongIsland.com. Court filings and local coverage indicate the case was handled by the County Court Trial Bureau, and Moore is represented by attorney Mindy Plotkin, Esq.
Where this fits locally
The case lands in the middle of a busy season for Nassau County prosecutors, who have been leaning hard on gun violence cases this spring. In April, a different Hempstead man was sentenced to 35 years to life for a 2019 drive-by killing, as reported by News 12 New York.
Court details
The prosecution of Moore’s case was led by Deputy Bureau Chief Stefanie Palma and supervised by leadership in the Homicide Bureau, according to LongIsland.com. With Moore’s guilty plea and 25-year sentence, a violent confrontation that started over a card game in September 2024 has now officially run its course in Nassau County court.
