On July 5, Westchester County District Attorney Miriam E. Rocah announced that after a weeklong trial, a jury found Negus Kirton guilty of the 2020 fatal shooting of 21-year-old Mount Vernon resident Michael Toro.
Kirton, 39, of Mount Vernon, was found guilty on July 1, 2022, of Murder in the Second Degree
and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, both felonies. The defendant faces a
minimum of 15 years to life to a maximum of 25 years to life in state prison.
On May 5, 2020, at approximately 1:45 a.m., Kirton chased Toro on Darling Avenue in Mount
Vernon and shot him in the back and head. Kirton then approached Toro, who was laying on the
ground, and shot him again. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Mount Vernon Police Department arrested Kirton on October 2, 2020, following an
investigation, with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
and Criminal Investigators from the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office.
The case is before Judge Robert Neary in Westchester County Court, and is being prosecuted by
Deputy Bureau Chief Dan Flecha and Assistant District Attorney Michael Callan.
Kirton is scheduled to be sentenced on August 12, 2022.
