A Glen Cove man was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison last Thursday after being convicted of second-degree murder in the shooting of a co-worker.
Lawrence Grammer, 74, of Carpenter Street in Glen Cove, was also convicted in June by a jury of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, the county district attorney’s office said.
The incident took place at the Citgo gas station/D&R Auto Services at 126 Glen Head Road in Glen Head, where Grammer worked for approximately 15 years at the time of the murder. Police said Bashir “Bobby” Ward, 35, was effectively executed by Grammer on Aug. 4, 2018, when he approached the victim and shot him once in the back of the head.
Ward’s death came one day after an altercation at the gas station, where he intervened between Grammer and an unnamed co-worker over receipts, police said. The two men got physical and Grammer was pushed to the ground.
Nassau County Homicide Det. Lt. Stephen Fitzpatrick said at a news conference after the slaying that the two had a longstanding rift during Ward’s tenure of about a year at the station.
“There was friction,” Fitzpatrick said. “They did not get along.”
Police said moments after the murder Grammer told a 911 dispatcher “I just killed a guy.” The murder weapon was retrieved in a Toyota RAV4 down the street registered under Grammer’s son’s name.
During the 2018 news conference, Ward’s parents, Mohamad and Samira Ward of New Hyde Park, said their son was a loving father and a hardworking man who left behind a wife and a 5-year-old daughter.
The sentence was imposed by Judge Howard Sturim.
Grammer, a registered sex offender, was convicted in November 1997 of raping a 13-year-old girl.
Efforts to reach lawyers for Grammer were unavailing.
