Man opts for trial over court offer in city shooting

STAMFORD — A Bridgeport man will head to trial after rejecting a judge’s offer to plead guilty to injuring a 72year-old man during a shootout on Stamford’s West Side.

On Wednesday, Tyrik McRae, 22, of Bridgeport, rejected an offer made by Judge Gary White during a supervised pretrial hearing earlier this year. Under the offer, McRae would have pleaded guilty to attempt at first-degree assault, first-degree reckless endangerment, possession of a pistol without a permit and possession with intent to sell.

In return for the guilty pleas, McCrae would have received four years in prison followed by five years of probation. If McCrae were to violate that probation, he’d face up to eight more years in prison under the offer.

“He wishes to reject the offer,” McCrae’s attorney Stephen DeLeo said at a hearing on Wednesday.

Judge Bruce Hudock confirmed with McRae that he wanted to reject the offer. If so, Hudock said, the court would withdraw its offer.

“The court is under no obligation to renew that offer, ever,” Hudock warned McCrae, who then rejected it again.

This is the second offer

McCrae has rejected in the case. In August, McCrae turned down an offer to plead to the same charges in return for a 12-year prison sentence which would have been suspended after six years followed by five years of probation.

McCrae was arrested by Stamford police in March 2022 on charges of criminal attempt at first-degree assault, possession of a pistol without a permit, unlawful discharge of a firearm, first-degree reckless endangerment and possession of weapons in a motor vehicle.

The charges stemmed from one of two shootings that occurred on the afternoon of March 14, 2022.

The first shooting, which happened around 3 p.m., involved an alleged shootout between two cars near the intersection of Richmond Hill Avenue and Ann Street, police said at the time.

The shooting left a 72year-old city resident, who police said was not the intended target, with a “non-life-threatening injury” to his shoulder, police said.

In February, McRae was charged with additional drug-related felony counts in an unrelated incident.

On Wednesday, McCrae’s case was placed on the trial list, where it will remain until a jury can be selected.