Man who provided gun used in fatal Peekskill shooting sentenced to 7 years in prison

The Peekskill man who brought a loaded handgun into a car moments before it was used in a fatal shooting was sentenced Wednesday to seven years in state prison.

Omar Williams, 21, got the negotiated sentence in Westchester County Court for his guilty plea last month to second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. But not before Yvonne Clark assailed him for his role in the Jan. 29, 2023, killing of her 35-year-old son Ricky Brickhouse, particularly that Williams brought a gun to a fight that didn’t even involve him.

The beef over a woman was between Brickhouse and Arnold Fernandez, the alleged shooter. Brickhouse spotted a car driven by Fernandez and called police for help. Moments later he was on the phone with them a second time as the car pulled up to him at John and Spring streets and shots were fired from the car, one hitting Brickhouse in the abdomen.

Fernandez sped off and he and the other occupants of the car, Williams and Errick Lowe, were arrested after a police chase when the car was stopped half an hour later on the Sprain Brook Parkway in Greenburgh.

Fernandez has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of first-degree manslaughter and is expected to be sentenced to 15 years in prison in August. DNA on the gun matched Fernandez and Williams. Lowe’s DNA was not on the gun. He pleaded guilty to fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, a misdemeanor, last month and was given a conditional discharge - meaning he will avoid incarceration and probation if he stays out of trouble for a year.

Questions still remain though as to who was the actual shooter.

Fernandez, the only one charged in the homicide, admitted only to causing the death while acting in concert with others. A court document references a conversation in the Peekskill holding cells in which Williams was heard urging Fernandez to take one for the team.

And in her remarks at sentencing, Clark said she knew it was not the first time Williams had fired a gun. She declined to elaborate later after leaving court.

She recalled a son who was full of life, had a strong bond with his niece, nephew and siblings and dreamed of opening a soul food restaurant.

She said she hopes Williams rots in hell and it would be hard to ever forgive him because that would feel like a betrayal to her son and her family. "I want to scream at you...I want to know if you even care," she said, adding that they had a 3-on-1 advantage, they could have just gotten out of the car and fought with her son. "I am not saying my son was a saint but you took him from me."

Moments later, Williams said only "I'm sorry that this happened."

State Supreme Court Justice Larry Schwartz said that was at least a first positive step after Williams in a pre-sentence interview with probation officers had shown no remorse or "real insight into the impact you caused."

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Peekskill NY man who brought gun in fatal shooting sentenced to 7 years