Shooter pleads guilty to attempted murder, arson

A Long Beach man pleaded guilty last Friday to attempted murder charges for shooting his former girlfriend last year, and to arson charges for torching a room at a Lynbrook Holiday Inn Express two years ago.

Acting Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas said that the defendant, Diquan Booker, 27, “has shown a consistent disregard for human life and the safety of others, going so far as to shoot a woman and set a hotel room on fire. Domestic violence is all too common in our county, and we are committed to putting abusers like Diquan Booker in prison.” Singas is recommending that Booker be sentenced to 20 years in prison.

According to Singas, on Sept. 28, 2013, Booker was staying in a Holiday Inn Express on Sunrise Highway in Lynbrook when he bought charcoal lighter fluid and used it to set part of his room on fire. The Lynbrook Fire Department responded to the scene and extinguished the fire, which was subsequently deemed suspicious by the Nassau County fire marshal. Booker was arrested by the Nassau County Police Department Arson and Bomb Squad, and charged with arson.

He was arrested again, this time by officers from the NCPD’s 1st Precinct, on July 20, 2014, at a North Merrick home, and charged with the attempted murder of a 26-year old woman with whom he had a previous relationship. Authorities said that he was arguing with the woman when he produced a sawed-off shotgun and pointed it at her face. When the victim put her hands up in self-defense, Booker shot her hands, shoulder and face with birdshot. She survived, but two of her fingers had to be amputated.