Long Beach's Shaun Teemer sentenced to 20 years to life

Nearly a year and a half after a shooting that resulted in the death of a 37-year-old Uber driver at the hands of a Long Beach resident, a sentence was finally handed down.

On March 19, 2022, the Long Beach Police Department received a call reporting gunshots at an apartment building at 425 E. Broadway. Humberto Manual Francis-Hernandez, 37, of Queens, was killed, and the shooter was identified as Shaun Teemer, 24, of Long Beach.

Teemer pleaded guilty in Nassau County District Court in June to charges including second-degree murder, criminal possession of a weapon, tampering with evidence and leaving the scene. The county district attorney, Anne Donnelly, urged that he be sentenced to 25 years to life.

On Aug. 2, Teemer was sentenced to 20 years to life.

“In a terrific display of collaboration between the Nassau County Police Department and the Long Beach Police Department, we were able to bring Shaun Teemer to justice,” said Long Beach Police Commissioner Ron Walsh, who is also the acting city manager. “With this conviction, he’ll be serving a minimum of 20 years in prison.”

According to police reports, Teemer got involved in a dispute with Francis-Hernandez, an Uber driver, outside 425 E. Broadway before following him inside and shooting him. Francis-Hernandez was taken to Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital, in Ocean-side, in serious condition, and died four days later, on March 23.

“Humberto Manual Francis-Hernandez went to work as a cab driver and never came home because of the senseless actions of this defendant,” Donnelly said. “Shaun Teemer shot Francis-Hernandez point blank in the head and arm, and sadly, the 37-year-old man succumbed to his injuries in the hospital.”

The property owner, Vim Goyal, said he found out about the shooting from Walsh, who called him to tell him. Goyal said he did not know Teemer or his family, who live in the area.

The Long Beach P.D. announced Teemer’s arrest nearly three months later. Homicides are extremely rare in the city. It had been six years since the last one, police said.

Along with the shooting, Teemer was also sentenced for a hit-and-run in September 2021 that severely injured a 73-year-old woman on Park Avenue, in Long Beach’s East End. Teemer was driving a rented 2020 Jeep Compass near Pacific Avenue, police said, when he struck the woman while she was walking through the crosswalk, and didn’t stop. She suffered a compound fracture of her leg.

Afterward, according to police, Teemer tried to return the car to the dealer and request a new one. He said the car had a damaged passenger-side mirror because it had been “hit by a basketball.”

He was arrested for the first crime by Long Beach police on Sept. 7, 2021.

“Teemer is a violent criminal, and we are all safer today knowing that he will spend the next 20 years to life behind bars,” Donnelly said. “I thank our partners in the Nassau County and Long Beach police departments as well as my prosecutors for holding this defendant liable for his actions.”

Walsh has spoken previously about Teemer’s criminal history, saying he had been charged in the past with three felonies — two of them violent, including first-degree robbery with a firearm.

“In my opinion, this is exactly what he deserves,” Walsh said. “He is a violent criminal with a long criminal history, and he perpetrated a senseless murder of an Uber driver who came there at his request for a ride. It’s a terrible set of circumstances, and justice was served.”