A Baldwin teenager was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison Tuesday for fatally shooting 19-year-old Amira McLeod, a Monroe University basketball player, as she tried to enter a house party in Hempstead last November. Jacob McMillan, now 18, wept in court and told the judge he took full accountability and never intended to hurt anyone, while McLeod’s mother, Monique Baldwin, tearfully called him a monster before State Supreme Court Justice Helene Gugerty imposed the sentence.
According to a courtroom account from Newsday, McLeod’s mother, her coach, and other loved ones packed the Nassau County courtroom for the sentencing. McLeod, who was originally from Queens, was a cherished member of Monroe University’s basketball team, according to reporting from CBS News. Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said in a statement that McLeod “was innocent, enjoying her friendships and her youth when her life was shockingly and tragically cut short by this defendant’s violent outburst.”
A Fatal Sequence of Shots Outside a Party
The shooting unfolded on November 22, 2025, at approximately 10:50 p.m., when McMillan tried to enter a house party on Willow Avenue in Hempstead, according to the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office. When the party’s host attempted to search him at the door, McMillan drew a handgun and fired two shots, striking the host in the arm, before fleeing south on Kennedy Avenue. As he ran, prosecutors said, he fired a third shot that passed through a second victim’s shoulder before striking McLeod in the head, killing her instantly. McMillan fired three shots in total and hit three people that night.
The two surviving victims were 20-year-old male students and football players at Nassau Community College, who were hospitalized and treated for non-life-threatening wounds, per a Nassau County Police press briefing reported by CBS New York. McLeod, a sophomore guard studying business at Monroe University in the Bronx, had helped lead her basketball team to a homecourt victory over Dutchess Community College just hours before she was killed, according to the Amsterdam News.
Surveillance Footage and Transit Records Led to an Arrest
Investigators determined that McMillan hid in a nearby backyard until 11 p.m. before taking a rideshare car back to his Baldwin neighborhood, according to the Herald Community Newspapers. His clothing was matched through surveillance video from the Baldwin LIRR station, a Nassau Inter-County Express bus, and a nearby doorbell camera, the outlet reported. Nassau County Police officers had initially responded to the Willow Avenue scene after receiving an automated alert from ShotSpotter, the acoustic gunshot-detection system used by law enforcement in Hempstead, according to the Nassau County Police Department.
The forensic case leaned heavily on that patchwork of electronic evidence, from transit cameras to rideshare records, to build a timeline despite a chaotic scene, the Herald Community Newspapers reported. The handgun used in the shooting was not immediately recovered by law enforcement at the time of McMillan’s arrest, per CBS New York.
Pre-Trial Status and a Broader Criminal History
At the time of the shooting, McMillan was under active Nassau County pre-trial services monitoring for a non-bail-qualifying felony offense, according to Newsday. He was also under investigation for a September 2025 burglary in Elmont in which a PlayStation 5 was stolen from a home window. Nassau DA Anne Donnelly confirmed his pre-trial release status when announcing the indictment, the outlet reported.
McMillan pleaded guilty in June to second-degree murder and to criminal trespass tied to the Elmont burglary. Prosecutor Brian Rodriguez also told the court that investigators believed McMillan was responsible for an uncharged knife-point watch robbery at Roosevelt Field Mall in November 2025, though he was not formally charged in that case, Newsday reported.
Plea Deal Spared a Trial but Reduced Minimum Sentence
The negotiated plea, accepted by Justice Gugerty, reduced McMillan’s minimum potential sentence by five years from the maximum 25-years-to-life term he would have faced had he been convicted at trial on second-degree murder charges under New York Penal Law. Defense attorney Brian Carmody confirmed the terms of the agreement to Newsday. Donnelly said in a statement that the plea “ensures justice for Amira and the people who loved her.”
A Season Dedicated to Her Memory
Following McLeod’s death, the Monroe University Express women’s basketball team dedicated its 2025–2026 season to her memory, starting the year undefeated in NJCAA Region 15 play and earning a national ranking of sixth while displaying her photograph at games, according to the Amsterdam News. Her coach and teammates spoke to the outlet about honoring her on and off the court throughout the season.
McMillan is 18 years old and a resident of Baldwin. With the sentence now handed down, McLeod’s family and teammates are left to carry forward a legacy that stretched from a Hempstead basketball court to a courtroom eight months later, where her mother had the final word on the man who ended her daughter’s life.
