Update: See family of Baby Dior compare getaway driver in her murder: ‘Rot in hell’ (Video)
Syracuse, NY – The getaway driver in the shooting that killed Baby Dior Harris and injured two other kids in Syracuse was sentenced to prison Wednesday after testifying against the man convicted of firing the fatal shots.
Chavez Ocasio, 27, was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Ocasio was arrested one day after the 11-month-old girl was fatally shot on April 11, 2021, after his car was identified by police as the suspect vehicle.
About a year later, Ocasio identified Jesse Outley, 27, as the man who fired the five shots that hit the car Dior and her family were sitting in. Days after Outley was arrested, Ocasio was allowed to plead guilty to the lesser charges of attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon.
Ocasio has been waiting over a year to be sentenced for his role in the fatal shooting. He was promised a sentence of 15 years in prison.
On May 3, Ocasio took the stand in Outley’s murder trial and told the jury Outley was the shooter but the two men did not know that anyone was in the car when Outley opened fire.
After nearly three days of deliberation, the jury found Outley guilty on all charges on May 9. Outley faces 25 years to life in prison.
The shooting was a reaction to a car sideswiping Ocasio’s car earlier that day. Ocasio and Outley later identified the wrong car as the one involved in the accident.
Related article: Road rage, a tragic mixup, a mother’s grief: the untold story of Baby Dior’s death
Dior was shot in the back and bled out in her floral-printed car seat. A 3-year-old girl suffered a grace wound and an 8-year-old girl was shot in her hip. The two older girls survived.
Dior is Syracuse’s youngest victim of gun violence. She was 18 days away from her first birthday when she died. She would have been four years old in April 2024.
Staff writer Anne Hayes covers breaking news, crime and public safety. Have a tip, a story idea, a question or a comment? You can reach her di lei at [email protected].
